In the Arms of the Goddess
by Pernshinigami
Summary: Animorphs Crossover, The Prophets pull Feralae and her fellow Animorphs into the Star Trek Universe. But Feralae has a lot of secrets, can the women of the Enterprise, Voyager and DS9 help her come out in the open in time to save Bajor? mild yuri
1. Default Chapter

**_In the Arms of the Goddess _**

By Nyassa Kaiba

Notes: I don't own Star Trek. I don't own Animorphs. I own the teenage Changeling named Okami the Rogue. I own the Trill named, Ensign Koron Zia and his next incarnation Sorana Zia. I own Feralae.

I also want to make something very clear. This fic is all about the Estrogen. You want Marco's bad jokes or Riker falling in love with a pretty woman YET AGAIN, if you want Tom Paris and his obsession with cars or Odo kicking some serious ass, the Doctor's bad jokes or Dr. Bashir trying to impress Dax for the umpteenth time, you've picked the wrong fic. Because this story is all about the LADIES! Yeeehaw!

There will be mild yuri between Cassie and Feralae and I may do a little bit of Dax/Kira. The idea behind this fic is to get the female Animorphs, and the female crewmembers from the Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager under one roof and have them kick butt.

Summery: Feralae, the littlest Animorph, was always trying to prove herself just as strong as the other Animorphs. During the last battle with the Yeerks, Feralae's mother was killed and even up to the crash of the Rachel, years later she is still mourning. A miracle happens when the Prophets decide to drag the Animorphs into the Star Trek Universe, reviving Rachel and Ax and making Tobias human once more. But Feralae has many secrets, can the female crewmembers of the Enterprise, Voyager and Deep Space Nine help her put aside her grief in time to save Bajor from the Dominion? Will Feralae join Starfleet Academy as Admiral Paris hopes? Find out!

**Part 1 Enterprise**

Prologue- Welcome

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

My name is Fera. We tumbled through unknown space, the Rachel and I. We had collided with the Bladeship at Maximum burn. I was surprised we had survived. Where was Jake? Where was Cassie? Were were James and Craig and Erica? Half conscious, my mind screamed in throughtspeak for all it's might.

HELP HELP HELP! THIS IS FERALAE OF THE RACHEL WE ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE! IF ANYONE CAN HEAR ME! HELP HELP HELPHELPHELPHELPHELP!

Out the window of the bridge I saw a shape, a shadow. But it was too cold. I needed to sleep. Needed to…

!&&&&&&&&&&

_Captain's log _

_The Enterprise has been asked to escort ambassador Spock to Space Station Deep Space Nine to assist in the mediation regarding a Colony of Bajor that has been under the control of Cardassia. We will rendezvous with the Defiant in approximately24 hours. However, a mysterious ship has been found, badly damaged. We will do our best to extend a helping hand._

Captain Picard was about to go to his ready room for a private conference with the newly made Captain Sisko over the upcoming mediations. Because Sisko had had a lot of dealings with Bajorans and Cardassians in the past the captain was hoping that Sisko would give him some advice. However, the sensors at Data's station chirped. "Captain. We are detecting a ship. I believe you should see this. Their engines are down, weapons down, shields down. The only system operating is life support."

Picard turned back to the screen, before returning to his chair. "Life signs?"

"Eleven lifesigns, nine of them humanoid. All of them weak."

"Stand by to transport them directly to sick bay. Lock onto the ship with a tractor beam. We'll bring it with us to Deep Space Nine for repairs." He tapped his commbadge. "Picard to Crusher. You'll be having some guests."

"Oh?" Beverly asked. "Patients?"

"Yes, we've come across a damaged ship. They may be badly injured." Picard replied. "I'll meet you in a few minutes."

"Alright, see you then." Dr. Crusher broke off communications.

Suddenly Deanna Troi shot straight up in her chair. "Captain… One of them is crying for help."

"They'll get it." Picard assured her. "Number One."

"Yes?" Riker stood, ready for action.

"Take care of things up here. I'm going down to sickbay to see if Dr. Crusher can tell me anything about our strangers. Counselor Troi, come with me."

"Yes sir." Riker sat back down and Deanna Troi followed Picard to the turbo lift.

!&&

FERALAE

Darkness surrounded me as I fell through the void. There was a flash of white light, and then I was standing in my cabin, far far away on Earth. Only, there was an odd light to the background. There was a soft glow around me.

"Feralae." I turned. My mother was standing there, in her best Kimono, her katana belted at her side.

"What am I doing here?" I asked. "Is this heaven?"

"You are to travel, to do good deeds and bring light to the galaxy." Mother answered. "This is why you and your friends are alive in this world." I froze. Mother would not act like this. She would have tried to reassure me. This was not my mother, this creature had power. It radiated from her in waves. "Elemist?" I guessed.

"You are our charges now, Animorph." The mother/creature replied. Others appeared now, Alloran, Alda and Bara the twin seers, Azouie of Ket, Erek the Chee, "You are the child of light, of life, of music." My mother told me. Though the others remained respectfully silent.

Then they spoke. "Child of light," The twins said.

You are a warrior, Alloran.

"An explorer," Said Azouie.

"An artist." Erek said. All of them had that same mechanical tone.

"You are a bringer of change." Mother told me.

"You may make all the difference." Alda said calmly.

The others disappeared. Only the creature masquerading as my mother remained. "You aren't my mother, are you?"

"She never left." The creature replied. Then she too disappeared.

It was dark, so dark. And I was tired. But I was alive, and slowly, I was coming too. Trembling from the cold aboard our ruined ship, my eyes fluttered open. I groaned, rolling over onto my side and curling up in a ball. I was on some kind of medical table, covered with a blanket that wasn't nearly warm enough.

"Easy." Said a woman standing about three feet away. She had been keeping an eye on us. Probably under orders from her captain. "Stay down. You were nearly killed."

"I know THAT much." I grumbled. "Man, I am sooo gonna kill Jake. 'Marco ram the Blade ship.' Was he insane?"

"Jake?" The woman queried. She had dark eyes and long black hair, and was actually rather pretty. Of course, I'm happy with Cassie anyway. But I wouldn't say that to anybody. Whoever this woman was, she might not take a liking to a lesbian. And she wouldn't take my comment as a compliment.

"He's the leader. Captain of the Rachel. We were out gunned, so what does he decide to do? He has Marco ram the enemy ship." I rolled my eyes, still trembling. "My name's Feralae. It's Latin for wild wings."

"I'm Deanna, Deanna Troi."

"Pleased to meet you Miss Troi."

"How is a child able to fly a ship?" She wondered.

That got my attention. "Child?... but..." I tried to sit up, but my head spun. "When I left Earth I was twenty two!"

That caught the woman's attention. "You look fourteen."

"Oh Hell." I stated. "The Elemist must have done it."

"The who?"

"He was the last of his species, the Elemist ascended to space time and got nearly limitless power." I replied.

"Like the Q?"

"Them? That's a Startrek ghost story." I said disdainfully. I looked around. Over to the side, behind a glass barrier stood a woman with orange/red hair wearing a blue jacket over some kind of blue and black uniform. Next to her, looking over her shoulder was an older man, mostly bald, wearing a familiar red and black uniform. On her other side was a man in white jeweled robes with trimmed eyebrows and pointy ears. The pointy eared man looked up, staring levelly at me. I met his eyes with a glare that had withered a full grown hork bajir. The man hardly flinched.

I froze. I knew where I was now. But there was NO WAY!

"Where am I?" I demanded.

Deanna smiled reassuringly. "You're on the Federation Starship Enterprise."

!&&&&

Notes: Oh gods, what a start to a story! Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaa! Oh watch the confusion, the bedlam, the mayhem!

Q: Mayhem is good, bedlam is better.

You said it! Let's all give a hand to my new muse Q!

Q: (gives a bow) My pleasure certainly.


	2. Chapter whatever

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 2-Feralae _**

It was an impossible situation. My fellow Animorphs and I had crashed the Rachel into the Bladeship. And when I'd woken up, we were in the Startrekk universe! We were, of all places, on the Enterprise. Still shivering on the medical bed, I stared at Deanna, the Deanna in amazement. "But... that was just a story back home... I mean..."

"A story? Well our ship is legendary I agree, but..."

"That's not what I meant!" I protested. "The Federation was just a story, a TV show!"

Deanna looked at me like I'd lost my mind. She took a deep breath. I was aware of her probing my emotions. "You're telling the truth aren't you?"

"Duh." I stated. "Duh duh and duh! But how did I get here?"

"We transported you out of your ship. You would have died." Deanna Troi replied. "We've got your ship. We're towing it to Deep Space Nine for repair. We have to take Ambassador Spock there anyway." As I watched, the three adults who I'd seen in the office came walking over to us.

"Councilor, thank you for keeping an eye on them." The bald man answered. "I am captain Jean-luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise."

"Feralae, an Animorph of the Rachel." I replied.

"To make matters short, Dr. Crusher scanned your Quantum Signature. We know you aren't from this dimension." Captain Picard indicated the red haired woman.

"So she was telling the truth?" Deanna asked.

"Captain Picard, I grew up hearing stories about the Enterprise. It's an honor." I said with a smile. "And Dr. Crusher, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"She said that in her reality the Federation was a myth." Deanna explained.

"A Television show to be precise." I said helpfully. I tried to sit up again and my head swam. "Ow... headache."

Dr. Crusher scanned me. "You should be fine in a few hours. It's probably leftover from the crash. Lie down for now."

I lay down, propping the pillow so that I was able to look the others in the eye. "Fascinating." The pointy eared man, who could only have been a Vulcan, replied.

"I'm glad you think so Mr. Vulcan." I growled, irritably reaching out a hand to the side for the backpack that I ALWAYS wore. I had grabbed it as we hurtled forward in Maximum Burn. "But I don't think that crashing into an enemy vessel at Maximum Burn is very fascinating at all. Rather painful in fact." I grabbed the top strap of my bag and pulled it into my lap, digging out my discman. "Are the others going to be alright?"

"They're going to be fine. If I may say so Ambassador Spock, I don't think she's in a good mood." Councilor Troi said placatingly.

"I did not mean to give offense."

"None taken." I sighed, digging through the front pouch for the CD I wanted. "Looks like I'm stuck here for a couple of hours. I'm not strong enough to Morph yet." I sighed.

"Morph?" Dr. Crusher asked. "Animorph, why does the term seem so familiar to me?"

"Animorph stands for Animal Morpher. In our reality we had to fight a group of sentient, spaceborn parasites called the yeerks. They controlled a variety of species including the hork-bajir, the Taxxons, and the Gedds. They had targetted Earth. Earth in my reality wasn't like the Earth here. We had no defense. Then Elfangor, an Andilite War-Prince and one of their planet's most legendary heroes broke the Andilite law of Seerow's Kindness to give us the andilites' morphing technology. We fought the yeerks, and we won. But one Blade Ship escaped and eluded Andilite Patrols to the edge of the Galaxy. They kidnapped one of our former Team Members, Captain Aximili Esgarrouth Isthil. Jake had a spaceship left from the yeerk invasion outfitted for a journey through space to track them down and save Ax."

"I recognize it now. There's a series of books from the twentieth century called Animorphs that Wesley was interested in." Dr. Crusher said, surprised. "I read a few of the volumes when I was in the academy, but I stopped reading them in my senior year, there was too much to be done. I should have read more."

"See if you can find them for me doctor." Picard said with a nod. "For now, sleep." He gave a nod to Dr. Crusher, who pressed a hypospray to my neck.

As I blacked out, I hoped that the discman wouldn't fall to the floor and smash. Funny how you never worry about the important things in times like these.

!&&&&&&&&

Marco

I heard them talking, but for the strangest reason, I was too tired to move. I felt weak, so weak that I didn't even want to open my eyes.

At least I wasn't dead, not yet. That had to be a good sign, wasn't it?

The thing that finally woke me up was a familiar roar.

The roar of a ton of very angry grizzly bear, I sat straight up in bed to find a familiar Grizzly bear had cornered three adults in whatever infirmary I had been sleeping in. How the Hell? "RACHEL!" I cried.

Out of my way Marco! Stay out of this Rachel replied.

"Uh, Rachel, it doesn't occur to me that the best way to make a good first impression is to bite a doctor's head off."

And how do we know they aren't yeerks? Rachel demanded.

"I don't even know what a yeerk is." Said a woman with long, waist length black hair.

"There, you see?" I asked.

The red head did. Rachel said, bristling.

"Rachel, the yeerk empire is destoryed, kaput, gone. We took them apart, including the blade ship that killed you."

Wait a minute? Killed me? I died? Rachel demanded. When did THAT happen?

"When Tom morphed Cobra and poisoned you. You don't remember?" I asked. "You bit his head off, demorphed, and a yeerk morphed polar bear broke your neck."

The grizzly shivered. Alright, I'll demorph, but Marco, when I demorph you are telling me EVERYTHING! Rachel growled.

It took approximately thirty seconds for Rachel to demorph. I was introduced to the others and briefed on the situation.

It was incredible.

It was impossible.

But here I was, in the Star Trek Universe. We were enroute to Deep Space Nine. I actually got to meet Spock, and Dr. Crusher, and the oh so beautiful Councilor Troi. Even worse, we were fourteen again.

Somebody smack me awake. I think I'm dreaming.

Then I brought Rachel up to date. I told her everything. How the Yeerks finally signed a treaty with humans and Andilites to create the United Animorphs Alliance, how the Blade Ship had escaped and kidnapped Ax. I told about how we used the yeerk ship, christened The Rachel, to pursue the Blade Ship and rescue Ax. I told Rachel how we got there too late. Ax was gone, taken over by the One. Better to die than to be a controller, we had said, oh so long ago. Based on that decision, Jake had told me to ram the Blade Ship.

I thought we would die.

Obviously not.

"So wait a minute, how does this factor into me coming back to life?" Rachel asked, annoyed.

"I don't know. Maybe the Ellimist's rules changed and he wanted to take us someplace safe." I suggested. "I mean, he did seem kind of sad about you dying. So was Tobias. He flew off and disappeared."

One by one the others woke up. And one by one we were briefed on what had happened. Feralae was the last to wake up. But she had woken up already and been put back to sleep. "So yeah, that's what happened." Feralae explained to Jake. "So fearless leader. What do we do now?"

"Nothing." Jake answered. "I've had it with doing anything. We beat the remnants of the yeerk empire and I refuse to get sucked into another conflict. So forget it."

"I cannot BELIEVE you Jake!" Rachel demanded. "You don't have to mourn for me anymore. I'm alive again. And I REFUSE to let you give up on us. We've got to find a way back to our own universe!"

"I don't think there is." Feralae said softly. "I think we're here for a reason. We should just start over. I think that's the point. Uh…" She hesitated, looking nervously towards the three adults. The Vulcan had left already, having heard the explanation for our being here once. "Hey, have you guys heard anything from your old friend Q recently?"

"You think it was him?" Deanna asked, curious.

"He's the only one with powers like the Ellemist."

"That's not completely true." Pointed out Cassie. "Didn't you see the episode called the "Squire of Gothos?"

"I read about it, but I don't watch the old show. They tend to portray Kirk as a Space Cowboy, and that's just off putting."

"That's not the point. The point is who brought us here and why." I growled. I would normally have continued with this sort of sparring. Feralae and I like to argue points when we're discussing missions. Usually Cassie will have something interesting to say.

"There are other points too." Feralae said with a sigh. "Where are we gonna sleep? I mean, come on. The Rachel is a wreck. And there wouldn't be room for Rachel or Tobias. There aren't enough rooms."

"They can share one." I said with a smirk.

Rachel growled. "Marco, if you make one more nasty comment about my relationship with Tobias I WILL morph grizzly and you WILL not like what I DO!"

Deanna's head was turning from one, to the other, to the other. Dr. Crusher was staring at us, as if she couldn't believe the track the conversation was taking.

Feralae straightened her uniform. "And what about Lexus and Jag? Jag will trash the place if we leave her alone too long."

"Who?" Deanna asked.

"My pets, Lexus is a Golden Eagle and Jag is a Doberman Pinscher." I explained. "They've been with me through EVERYTHING." She sighed.

Feralae had a very interesting uniform. She had come up with morphing outfits for us, back when the military needed a uniform for it's morphers. Officers could decorate their uniform however they wanted. But the simplest uniform was a tight blue body suit with the head of the Animorph in question's favorite morph. If they didn't have a favorite, or hadn't acquired a morph yet, then they had a brown pawprint on the right shoulder. But since Feralae had created them, she got to decorate hers. And decorate she did, with a sapphire blue cape that had a white lion on it, leaping towards her right shoulder with it's claws extended. Feralae has always been a dextrous weaver/tailor. The lion looked like it would leap out of the cape.

Back when I had been in show business, Feralae had designed costumes and weaponry for my TV show, as well as being my costar. We were one wonderful team. But there was a subtle chemistry between her and Cassie. I mean, I know they're in love, but it seemed to go deeper than that, an in the soul bond. But Feralae has always been strange. This is the girl who dyed her hair blue and silver permanently and has andilite eyes, bright, green, alien andilite eyes.

"The captain asked us to take you up to his ready room when you were awake enough." Deanna said, speaking up. "He wants to introduce the senior crew. When Feralae went back to sleep Captain Picard decided that each of you would be staying with a member of the crew until the Rachel has been fixed on Deep Space Nine."

"That settles that." Feralae said with a warm smile.

Cassie sighed, wrapping an arm around Feralae's waist. Their eyes met for a long moment, a long pause. Then they broke eye contact and Cassie leaned into the grip. Feralae whispered something in Cassie's ear. She nodded and smiled over at the others.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Okay guys? Everybody ready?" There were nods of general ascent from the group.

Deanna pinned Feralae with an inquiring stare. Feralae shrugged. "And you stare why?" She asked, amused at the dumbfounded look on the older woman's face.

Deanna sighed. "This way." We followed her down the halls to the turbo lift, getting stares from crewmen who knew who Deanna was but wanted to know what we were doing following her around. And flat out stares at Ax and Alloran that said 'OMG WTF,' but were too polite to say anything about it.

We were met halfway by a woman in ornate purple robes with dark skin and knappy hair sticking out from under a headdress of some kind. "Deanna, on your way to the meeting?"

"Yes, about the business we discussed earlier, Guinan." Deanna told her. "Care to come along?"

"I doubt I'd fit into the turbo lift. I'll come in a few minutes after you do." The woman replied.

Feralae gawked at her dress. "I thought that I was flashy." She said, shaking her head as soon as Guinan was out of earshot. She hitched up her cape so that she wouldn't trip over it and scurried after Deanna.

I sighed. Here all the aliens were humanoid, with odd coloring or features. What was it like for the crewmen, who saw Ax and Alloran were nothing even remotely human, or for Feralae, who's blue hair and bright green, slitted eyes definitely marked her as not human? I sidled up to her. "Hey Feralae, notice people staring."

"Yeah, I always hated being the center of attention." The bluenette replied. She sighed. "Oh well, it can't be helped."

We reached the lift and Deanna called out, "Bridge." Her tone was neutral, as if she didn't want to give anything away. The lift was crowded, but it managed to carry us.

The Bridge was almost deserted. I figured that the senior crew were probably in the meeting room. Sure enough, Deanna lead us into a side door. Feralae paused, taking a deep breath, then took a seat across from the one Deanna took. Cassie sat next to Feralae, and the rest of us took seats in order of seniority. I saw Feralae put a hand on Cassie's leg. Cassie took the hand, twining her fingers with Feralae's briefly. They gave each other that secret stare, and then turned their attention to the crewmembers filing in.

I didn't need the introductions to know who was who. Captain Picard sat at the head of the table, with commander Riker next to him. Beyond Riker were Geordi and Data. Beyond Data sat Deanna and Dr. Crusher next to her. Beyond Crusher sat Worf. Guinan was the last to arrive, settling herself in a position where she could see everybody at the table.

Picard took a deep breath, and spoke. "I've told you all about what has happened. These Animorphs come from another dimension. They're children, but they have the power to change shape into any animal whose DNA they can acquire. Unless we can find some way of protecting them Starfleet will probably want to recruit them to fight against the Dominion, perhaps even the Borg as well, should they mount an attack on the Federation."

Feralae nodded. "I suspected that was what they'd do captain. While I think we could handle a battle against a changeling, I doubt we'd fare well against the Borg. And Borg implants are mechanical, I doubt we could morph them if they got into us. It might even destroy our ability to morph."

"What makes you say that?" Riker asked.

I spoke up then. "Once, when we were infiltrating a Yeerk base in shark morphs, we were caught by a yeerk machine and implanted with a mind control device. It ruined our ability to morph anything smaller than the implant in question. If we hadn't destroyed the yeerk base we STILL wouldn't be able to morph small creatures. When the base was destroyed, the implants liquefied, restoring our morphing powers. I doubt the Borg have advanced far enough to create something like that."

"You're right." Picard said with a nod. "Starfleet studies of Borg technology have shown nothing like what you have just described."

Captain, there is another problem. Ax said, speaking up. There is an andilite law against sharing technology without approval from Andilite High Command. It is known as Seerow's Kindness. We have made exceptions for the humans from our dimension, because the yeerks have already given their human hosts morphing powers, and the humans salvaged a morphing cube from the wreck of my brother Elfangor's fighter. But other than that we make no exceptions. I am a War Prince. We have standards to uphold.

"Ax this is no situation to worry about Seerow's Kindness. Besides, how often have YOU broken that rule yourself?" Rachel asked. She ticked off the points on her fingers. "Altering the radio telescope to contact Andilite high command, helping Marco's father complete his Zero-Space transmitter, there are at least a half a dozen instances of one of us breaking that rule for the sake of survival, need I go on?"

This is not a case of survival. Ax pointed out. If what this Picard says is true, then it will be for the sake of victory, of one empire dominating the other.

"But these are humans Ax!" Feralae protested. "Well, most of them." She admitted. "A human is a human, no matter what the dimension. That means that the Treaty of Elfangor still stands."

I concede that you have a point. Ax said, But I think we should learn more about the politics of this dimension before making a decision. We could still make a deadly mistake.

Captain Picard watched as we debated. "Aximili, what is this Treaty of Elfangor?"

The Treaty of Elfangor states that Humans have access to any advanced technology left behind by the Yeerks in orbit, that Andilite Technology may be passed to Humans, because they are our Allies, and that the Morphing Technology may be shared for a Military, Medical, or Law Enforcement purposes. Ax replied. It was named after my elder brother, Elfangor Sirenial Shamtul, for his part in founding the Human Resistance to the Yeerks on Earth.

"Then under this Treaty you are allowed to pass on Morphing Technology?" Riker asked.

We may, for Military, Medical, or Law Enforcement purposes. Ax replied.

I could see the gears turning in Feralae's head. Okay, two for, one against, so far.

"We don't need to deal with this now." Jake spoke up for the first time. "We need to figure out where we're going to stay. What we're going to do now that we're here, we need to have a plan."

Deanna cleared her throat. "I put together a plan while you were unconscious." She placed a data pad on the table, and said calmly. "I think if you were each to stay with a different senior crewman, then between us we could teach you what you need to learn about this dimension. Some of you would have to double up, but we could manage it."

"Great, which of us stays with which of you?" Rachel asked.

"Direct as always." Cassie said, rolling her eyes.

Deanna took a deep breath, stole a look at her crewmates as though she was about to tell them something they wouldn't like, and said. "Erika will be staying with Guinan, Alloran will stay with Worf, Jake and James will be staying with Beverly. Cassie will be stay with me. Ax and Tobias will be staying with Data. Marco and Craig will stay with Geordi. Rachel will be staying with Will. And Feralae will stay with the captain."

Captain Picard's eyes widened in surprise. He had obviously not been expecting that. Neither had I. I would have thought that Deanna would place Jake with Picard, because Jake was our leader. Obviously not. What standard was she going by? Okay Alloran with Worf would have been expected. They both have the soul of a warrior. Tobias had become pretty stoic after spending most of his life in the body of a hawk, although Ax probably shared Data's propensity to not know a joke if it bit him on the nose. Rachel and Riker were an obvious team. Erika's mystical outlook on life would be strengthened by Guinan's serenity and reserve. Craig and I had both picked up some engineering skills aboard the Rachel, so we both would be the logical choice to stay with Geordi.

The assignments made me wonder. What did Deanna see in us? What did she think each crewman would have to offer us? What did she think we could offer them?

"With all respect Counselor," Data began. "I do not know much about parenting, the incident with Lol…"

"Then be a mentor Data, not a parent. They need somebody who can teach them how to use equipment and how to survive in this dimension. If you need help, then feel free to come ask me okay?" Deanna said with an encouraging smile.

Data nodded, clearly thinking about this, making plans.

Feralae was utterly frozen. "You're awfully quiet Feralae." Cassie commented.

"I was just thinking, that's all." Feralae replied.

"That's Feralae, always thinking." Rachel rolled her eyes. "You haven't changed once in how many years?"

That was where she was wrong. Feralae had changed. She had changed so much over the voyage away from Earth that I hardly recognized the carefree, compassionate, creative dreamer that had looked me in the eye when she joined the war and said that she wanted to save her parents. Only two of us had ever lost relatives in the War with the Yeerks. Jake had lost his brother Tom. And Feralae had lost her mother, Merika. Feralae had plunged into the diplomatic work that brought the Andilite world, and the Worlds once occupied by the Yeerks, together into the United Animorphs Alliance. But that hadn't been a stroke of Genius, it hadn't been a lightning inspiration. It had been the effort of a troubled Teen to lose loss, if that made any sense. Some people couldn't take loss, but they reacted to it in different ways. For example, when my father thought that my mother had died, he fell apart. Feralae, however, became possessed of an almost manic energy and a conviction that if we stood together, there would never be another Yeerk Empire, and a little girl would never lose her mother again.

There was a long, thoughtful silence. "I think that's that for us." Jake said calmly.

"We'll meet again tomorrow before supper." Picard agreed. "Dismissed."

The others stood. Feralae remained where she was, lost in thought. Picard watched her. This was going to be an interesting confrontation. Feralae was a powerful animorph. She had the power, the best combination of morphs, the creativity, the compassion, the love, the bonds between her and her friends. She was easily the smartest out of all of us. But the one thing that she lacked was confidence. Perhaps that was what Deanna sensed in her, the lack of confidence. If that were so, then she was in good hands. I turned and followed Geordi out to the lift.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Notes: Okay by now you're probably wondering how the Hell the Prophets managed to leave the wormhole and follow the Enterprise. And for the wonderful explanation you'll have to wait until the crews reach Deep Space Nine and a very distressed Kai Winn. Of course, I prefer to call her Kai Witch Bitch. But that's not her official name. Oh well. And happy St. Patrick's Day. Q, bring on the Romulan Ale!

Q: (downs mug of ale) Yeay! Hey, here comes Kai Witch Bitch now!

Kai Winn: I can't believe they would do something like… hey what are you drinking?

Q: Romulan Ale! Want some?

Kai Winn: NO! I can't believe you're drinking when the Prophets went and…

Q: SHHHH! You'll ruin the surprise! (covers her mouth)

Kai Winn: (Bites his hand)

Q: OW! WHY YOU LITTLE!

Let me take care of her Q, I'll chibitize her!

Q: What's that?

Well when I did The Generation, Tobias from the Animorphs gave me a chibitizing ray. Let me demonstrate! (shoots Kai Winn with the Chibitizing Ray.)

Kai Winn: (shrinks into Chibi) AAAAHH MY EVILNESS IS SHRINKING! CURSES!

Q: cool! Can I borrow it and chibitize Picard? Just to drive him nuts?

I'll think about it. But Picard's a good guy. I don't want him to suffer! No, the ray is only for bad guys.

Chibi Kai Winn: Hey! I resemble that remark!

No comment. Enjoy the fic people, and the ale!


	3. Dreamland

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Nyassa Kaiba

Notes: I love bashing Winn, nothing says "I love you" like a well placed bash on the head. (smacks Chibi Kai Winn upside the head)

Chibi Kai Winn: OW! Watcha do that fo?

Because you're the Witch Bitch we all love to hate! Right Q?

Q: Right! Look at her, six years old again and missing her two front teeth!

Chibi Kai Winn: I can't help being small! I know, I'll get a Pah-Wraith to get you back for it! (evil laughter) And then I'll take over Bajor and live happily ever after.

Pah-Wraith: Why the Hell should we listen to a six-year-old? Bajor is ours, go plan to take over some other planet!

Q: (kills Pah-Wraith) These creatures are so troublesome.

That's okay, you're doing the Prophets a favor by killing them.

**_Chapter 2- Feralae _**

I sat there for quite awhile, looking out the window to where The Rachel floated in space. I remembered my mother's parting words, "use your heart, to unite the worlds." My mother had died in my own arms, and I, her flesh and blood, had been unable to save her. She had died, reciting the andilite ritual of death. She was a servant of the people, of all the peoples.

Picard watched me for awhile, before turning to the computer that he had in the room and going over some documents, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I could see his reflection in the glass. After awhile he said, "Feralae, would you like something?"

"Hm?" I asked, startled out of my thoughts.

"Can I get you something to eat? To drink? You were asleep through lunchtime."

"I think some peppermint tea would be alright."

Picard got up and went to the replicator. "Peppermint tea, hot." Then a moment later, "Earl gray tea, hot."

He set his own cup down by the computer and brought me mine. "Thanks." I said softly. I took an appreciative sip. I looked out the window. "I never did get over it."

"Get over what?" He asked gently.

"My mother died in the final battle with the yeerks." I said, with a small, sad smile. "She was the descendant of the famous swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto. She'd tell me stories of our ancestor's adventures. She lived the life of a warrior, she fought even to the end."

"She must have really loved you."

"I know she did." I took a deep, nervous breath. I couldn't cry in front of the captain. But my whole body must have conveyed my sorrow. "The horrible part is that she died years ago, and I still haven't been able to let her go."

"I know somebody who was like that, a commander I met, not very long ago actually. His name was Sisko."

"You met commander Sisko?" I asked, brightening.

"About a year ago." Picard replied. "He… he blamed me for his wife's death."

"The Borg incident?" I asked.

"Yes." Picard replied.

"It's too bad you can't morph then. You have no idea of the freedom, the grace and power of being an animal." My face took on the beatific glow that it did when I tried to explain the phenomenon. "I remember the first time I morphed, my mother taught me using a gorilla morph. The creature was so gentle, but I could feel the power there. I felt the strength, and it was as if nothing could stop me. And then there was the bird morphs." I smiled wider, shaking my head. "I got into the air for the first time and I let out what I call, the Missy Elliot War Cry. It was amazing."

"My mother once told me that for every talent gained, something else is taken away." Picard said slowly, as though he were thinking as he said it. "That certainly seems to be the case for you."

I nodded. "Yeah, the Yeerks took my parents. I was a refugee, but I managed to make a place for myself in an abandoned cabin near the Hork Bajir valley. We fixed it up and for two and a half years it was home. Sometimes, between the end of the war and life in the stars, I sometimes wished that I could go back to that cabin. I know it sounds stupid though, I mean, I have to keep going forward." I sighed.

My thoughts were confused. I didn't have my laptop, so I couldn't work on my journal. I had kept a log during the voyage, and I had transmitted it all to the military back home, so that the truth about us, about what happened to us, could be known. Everybody thought that we had disappeared without a trace. And now, we really had disappeared.

The silence stretched. Picard worked. I sipped the tea. I had made my own peppermint tea back home, steeping the leaves in a tea-jar with a strainer. I remembered the sun tea that I had made. Memories of home came to mind, unbid. _I will not cry in front of the captain!_ I thought. _I will not cry in front of the captain._

"So what's the mission this time?" I asked, curious.

"We're to rendezvous with the Defiant for diplomatic talks, and dock at Deep Space Nine. We'll be staying for a little while, while Ambassador Spock conducts the diplomatic talks, and then take him back to Vulcan."

"Something to do with Bajor?"

"You're sharp, yes, there's a system midway between the Cardassian and Bajoran systems. It has two M-class planets and three M-class moons."

"That means that they can be settled right?" I asked, taking a long sip of tea.

"That's right. And that's why the two of them want that system. It would be both a colony and a military base." Picard replied.

"Why not make it a neutral system?" I suggested.

"That's been suggested, and both governments refused. The Bajorans won't back down because that would show weakness on their part. The Cardassians won't back down because they hate the Bajorans." Picard explained.

I rolled my eyes. "Sounds like the Bloods and the Cryps."

"I beg your pardon?"

"In twentieth century Earth there were two famous feuding gangs, the Bloods and the Southside Cryps." I sighed. "It was stupid too, because they were the death of I don't know how many innocents, the corruption of others. Every time I heard about them on the news I was absolutely disgusted."

"The gangs of twentieth century earth may indeed be an appropriate analogy." Picard agreed. "You're quite intelligent."

"Comes from being a mad artist, shut up in a cabin for two years, with nothing to do but read and fight." I chuckled. "I had to do other things to survive. And I did manage to get out every so often, but most of the time it was just me, my work, and my thoughts." I smiled into the cup. "I threw myself into my art headlong."

"Sounds lonely."

"Not really, I had Tobias dropping in to keep me company. Ax came in sometimes too. Alloran and David lived with me as well. David's a nothlit, stuck in rat morph as punishment for trying to kill us. We put him in a morph where he could do no more harm. Then later on we were joined by Estrid, Ezimili, Gafinilon and Mertil. A Ketran named Azouie joined us as well. Other than that, I was cut off from the outside." I chuckled. "Tobias used to threaten to eat David if he caused any trouble."

Picard rolled his eyes. "I find it very interesting that you managed to take care of yourself when you were, how old?"

"Thirteen. I was the baby Animorph. The others used to go out of their way to protect me, they still do. I was fifteen when the war ended. The final danger, Visser One, was the only time that I had to face the danger alone. I went into the lion's den a child, and came out a woman. Now I'm stuck as a baby again." I set down the cup and stood, looking out the window. "It's amazing, this is probably what we'll be like, back in our own dimension, in a few hundred years. And I get to see what's like… like our future. You know, I see some of the others in your crew. Cassie and Deanna for example. Both very compassionate, sympathetic, they both have a firm grasp of people. Erika and Guinan are almost two cuts from the same mold. And Ax and Tobias have both had to search for what it means to be human, several times, so they might even be able to help Data a little."

Picard smiled, that's what I liked about him, I realized, he was always willing to listen to others, especially if you're down and out. He turned back to his work, and the room became silent again. I sighed, looking out at the window.

The words of Gene Roddenbury came to mind, _"Beyond the rim of the Starlight, my love is wandering in starflight, I know he'll find in the star clustered reaches, love, strange love, a star woman teaches, I know his journey ends never, his Star Trek will go on forever, but tell him that while he sails his starry sea, remember, remember me."_ Picard looked up from his work again. "Remember I mentioned the Federation being a myth back home? Well the person we credit with bringing it to us was named Gene Roddenbury. He wrote that poem about it so that he wouldn't have to pay royalties for a composer." I chuckled. "But Gods how accurate it is."

"There's a data pad on the other end of the table. If you like you may use it to find something to read." Picard suggested.

"Thanks." I picked up the pad and began to decipher how to use it. This would help. I didn't want to tell the captain the circumstances of my mother's death, and if I didn't find something to do soon I might. I didn't want the captain's pity. I had had enough of that from my friends. I wanted to show the others that I could stand strong, on my own, without going insane from grief. Of course, I really was the mad artist. I mean, come on, I'm Bipolar, and not even my friends knew about it.

As I went through the history files on the data pad, I looked for one point, First Contact. I figured that was as good as ever a place to start. Cochrane was actually a fascinating figure, as I read. I remembered the movie First Contact, and the novel. Had they really gotten rid of my disorder? Would they be able to do anything about it if it reared it's Janus Faced head?

As I continued on through the beginnings of the Federation, I read what I had been missing. I had just gotten through the era of the first Enterprise when Picard finished his work. "Are you ready to go?"

I stood, marking my place and closing down the data pad, albeit clumsily. "Yes." I followed him to the lift. Riker was giving Rachel computer lessons on a minor pad, while keeping a careful watch on the others on the bridge. But it was clearly evening, one of the ensigns yawned. The activity I had seen when we'd walked onto the bridge earlier was winding down. The night watch came out of the lift to relieve Riker and he and Rachel joined us in the turbo.

As the lift descended to the Quarter's level I felt Cassie trying to make telepathic contact. Cassie and I had a link. We're lovers, and for some reason, after we had paired off, our minds had linked together. Now we could communicate in telepathy anywhere. But when we'd first woken up, I had sensed the link beginning to fade. It was probably the work of whoever had brought us here, or maybe it was a side effect of the crossing.

Cassie-koi, something wrong?

Just wanted to make sure you were alright. You seemed sort of quiet before.

I had had the strangest dream when we were still unconscious. I replied. I was trying to make sense of it.

About your mother?

Yes, or, or some creature who pretended to be her. Creatures actually, they seemed to have taken the form of my mother and all the Alien friends that I had made during the war. Alloran, Alda and Bara, Azouie, Erek, they were all there, in my cabin, one or two for each species. I gave a mental sigh. I was, scary actually. And then, they began to disappear one by one. The one that had taken the form of my mother was the last to leave. I turned to her and said, 'You aren't my mother are you?' She said, just before she disappeared, 'She never left.'

Chilling. Cassie stated.

But I can't help but feel that it's important somehow. I told her. No matter how hard I try, I can't make sense of it.

Don't worry about it, these things usually sort themselves out with a little time. Cassie assured me.

Do we HAVE enough time? I asked.

As far as I'm concerned I think we have all the time in the Worlds. Cassie replied. Whoops! Can't double talk, gotta go. I had the mental image of Deanna fussing over Cassie like a mother hen. Cassie and I had been linked since the first time we'd had sex together. I was too embarrassed to ask Alloran why that had happened, I guess it had something to do with my Andilite Heritage. But since telepathy didn't come naturally to her, Cassie couldn't do it as well as I could.

If I had been my TRUE age I would have been able to look down at Picard. Although, I had had problems with looking down at authority figures before, it was embarrassing. I remember one year at summercamp after the war, I was a CIT and the councilor I was assigned to was shorter than I was by at least eight inches.

The lift door opened. Picard and Riker bid each other good night and I followed the Captain to his quarters. Picard dug through his closet and pulled out a deflated airbed and a spare set of blankets, pillows and sheets. "I'll take care of it Captain." I said as I pushed the button to inflate the mattress. It was one of those automatic mattresses that inflated on its own. Picard went into the bathroom to change into pajamas and I made the bed.

In short order the two of us were changed into nightclothes and I slipped onto the comfy air bed. I was at the other end of the room, partially behind a shelf. So I pulled out my Discman and put on the Indigo Girls before snuggling under the covers. I listened, as far as I could tell the Captain was asleep.

Cassie? I called gently.

Hmm Feralae?

Good night Koibito, I love you.

I love you too Feralae, goodnight.

I listened softly to the words of the Indigo Girls. _Then you had to bring up reincarnation, over a couple of beers the other night, and now I'm serving time made for mistakes, by another in another lifetime. How long till my soul gets it right, can any human being ever reach that highest light, call on the rested soul of Galileo, king of night vision, king on insight._

Oh how I wished for insight of my own. But insight would have to wait. The next few weeks would probably be action, action, action.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I dreamed. Here it was again, the memory.

&&&Flashback&&&

I was tied to a pole above the yeerk pool, on the pool ship. It was the impenetrable Yeerk Stronghold. We had lifted off into the air. As far as I knew James and his people, his dedicated, caring auxiliary Animorphs were dead. My friends might be dead as well. The idea had been to use me as a Trojan Horse to get into the Yeerk Pool Ship.

Then I saw her, Visser 1, formerly Visser 3. I had freed Alloran from her clutches long ago. In his anger, the Visser had taken my mother, who was morph capable and armed with morphs of the most powerful animals on Earth. She was wearing a Kimono, with a Katana sword belted at her side. "Well well well, the Dragon of the Animorphs has been defeated? I would have expected you to put up more of a fight."

"You will die Yeerk, and then my mother will be free. We will kill you."

"Here's your chance." She untied me and offered me a long, thin, wrapped bundle. I knew what was in there. "Take it Animorph, or are you so lost to honor that you would let yourself die rather than fight for your world."

"You must be joking. Yeerk, I will not kill my mother, not while you're in her head. It isn't her fault."

"Do it Animorph." The Visser punched me in the chest. I doubled over, wheezing.

That was that, I grabbed the sword, unwrapped it, and unsheathed it. The whole pool was silent. They watched while we prepared for battle. I unsheathed the sword, dropping the sheath on the ground. It was my sword of course, they had taken it from me when they'd captured me. Cassie! I had cried.

Feralae what's wrong?

Visser One, she's trying to make me fight her in a sword duel!

Better than morphing a monster and eating you. She pointed out.

"Before we begin, little girl, look up." The Visser pointed upward. I saw several dracon cannons aimed at me. "See those? They're programmed to follow our movements. If you try to morph, they'll fire and kill you." I nodded. Clearly the Visser didn't want anybody interfering. "Now arm yourself! And prepare to die!" The Visser lunged forward. I barely blocked in time. I parried, disengaging and turning her assault back on her.

The battle continued, all I heard were silent grunts. The hosts in the cages didn't dare speak, for fear that they would break my concentration. But clearly I had the Visser on the run. The battle lasted for an hour. I was still going strong. But the Visser was weakening. She had normal human reaction times. I had the grace and power of an andilite warrior. I had andilite reaction times. I parried and thrust and ducked and dodged and lunged and beat and disengaged until we'd come full circle around the pool, back to where we'd started. The Visser was weak by now, panting. Then suddenly…

The Visser doubled over… "NO! NO NO NO! Foul woman! Let me go!" The Visser fell to her knees. Then my mother, my helpless mother, took control of her mouth. "Feralae! Kill me!"

"NO! MOTHER I WON'T!"

"Do it now while I hold her for you! You have to!" Mom replied.

"But…"

"Feralae, recite the ritual with me…" Mother begged, taking the tip of my sword, arms trembling, she aimed it at her heart. "I am the servant of the people…"

"I am the servant of the people."

"I am the servant of my prince." She was trembling with the effort, but her control held strong. The yeerks at the pool crowded around us, wide eyed at the spectacle of a woman who could fight the Visser for so long without losing her grip.

"I am the servant of my prince."

"I am the servant of honor." I trembled, knowing what she would argue, what she would say.

"I am the servant of honor." I held strong, knowing now what she would do, able to do nothing to stop it. If either of us morphed, we were dead. Neither of us could heal ourselves if we were hurt.

"My life is not my own, when the people… when the people have need of it." Mother staggered, and I knew her control was wavering.

"My life is not my own when the people have need of it."

"My life is given, for my people, for my prince, and for my ho-nor." At that last word, mother shoved herself onto my sword, piercing through the heart. She had minutes to live, and there was nothing we could do.

The Yeerk that was Visser One attempted to leave my mother, attempted to escape into the Yeerk pool. I pulled the sword from my mother's chest. In a roar of rage and hatred I stabbed the yeerk slug, cutting it in half, literally.

I let the sword stand, quivering where it stuck out of the deck. I pulled my mother into my arms. "Mother, mother talk to me! Mother!"

"Feralae…" Mother said softly. "I… I'm free… and you must… must listen to me before I die."

"Anything mother! Anything at all!" I cried. Tears wouldn't stop falling.

"You have a heart big enough to love the galaxy… Never lose sight of that love… Show compassion for …them… forgive them... They were doing what their… society told them to do… It's not their fault… Promise me Feralae… dear daughter… promise me that you will unite the worlds… bring them all together in peace and harmony… I am sorry, sorry that I couldn't watch you grow… I want you to… to know how much I love you…"

"I promise mother… I promise and I love you too…" Her eyes began to fade. "Mother… mother don't go! Don't leave me! Mother!" I felt with my mind, felt her heart stop, unable to keep her alive. I felt her stop breathing in my arms. I felt her mind slowly, agonizingly, fade out. And I screamed, screamed in anguish and pain. It was too much! Just too much!

&&&END FLASHBACK&&&

"MOTHER!" I sat up straight in bed. I remembered the day before, the night before. The Enterprise, Deanna's idea, the captain. Silently, I looked over and saw him roll over in his sleep in the main room. Good, I hadn't woken Picard up. The airmattress that he'd laid out for me hadn't lost air. It felt a little kooshier. But other than that nothing had happened while I was asleep.

Gods, this was going to be torture, living out my mother's sacrifice again. I lay back down and trembled.


	4. chapter thingumie

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Eva Lacatena

Notes: Q: You still haven't told me what the prophets did to allow themselves to leave the Wormhole.

Nor will I until they get to Deep Space Nine.

Q: Just a hint! PLEASE? (begs)

Nope. Sorry Q.

Q: I'll get you for it, I'll turn you into a snail, or a frog! Or something slimy!

Oh please, I'm the authoress, if you turn me into a random slimy organism you'll never find out how the Prophets did what they did.

Q: GRRR! Right in the heart! Please? Pretty please? You can have anything in the world!

Gimme a gameboy and a copy of The Sacred Cards and I'll think about it.

Q: Okay, here! (gameboy and game appears)

Thanks! I'll think about it.

Q: Grrr! You tricked me!

Yes I did, be a good boy Q, the answer shall appear in time.

**_Chapter 2- Cassie _**

Deanna spread the comforter over the cot. The blanket made a sound like a sail unfurling. "There." She said as she twitched it into place and puffed the pillow. "That works. Now, a guest deserves an ice-cream sundae."

I chuckled. She had been fussing over me since we'd arrived, like a mother hen. Too much to do. But somehow I was comforted by it. It was better to be busy than to worry about getting home, or about the dangers that might lurk out there in the endless night. And I… well… part of me didn't want to go home. That part of me wanted to explore, to find out more about this dimension and it's people.

I sighed, flopping backwards on the couch nearby. Deanna came back from the replicator with a pair of hot fudge ice-cream sundaes. I sighed, taking a deep bite of mine. "So, what do you think so far?" Deanna asked.

"You mean about staying in this dimension?" I asked. "I don't mind. I faked my death back home anyway, so it's not like there's anybody expecting us to come back." I pointed out. "The one person I'm worried about is Feralae." I took a large bite of ice-cream, savoring the flavor. How long had it been since I'd had a sundae?

"How so?" Deanna asked.

I paused for a moment, taking my full mouth as an excuse to gather my thoughts. When I swallowed, I said. "Feralae's been worried about something, I can't tell what, but I know she's worried. She pretends to be miss tough-girl, but I know how vulnerable she can be. Her mother's death was proof of that."

"What happened then?"

"Nobody's sure exactly what went down, but Feralae got kidnapped by Visser One, who had infested her mother's body a looooooong time ago. It was just before the last battle. She, the Visser I mean, got into a fight with Feralae, a sword fight, and didn't survive. Feralae's mother Merika (who was also the Visser's host), died with her. When we found Feralae, she was curled up on the deck, cradling her mother's bloody body. Her sword had been abandoned a few feet away, and it was covered with blood, so we knew what had happened. For months after the battle Feralae moped around her family's ranch, not leaving her room, not writing, or sculpting, or drawing, or weaving, or any of the things that she usually did. One night I found her asleep on her mother's grave."

"It took about two months, but eventually she got up. When that happened, she had an almost manic energy. Feralae was charged up like an Energizer Battery and ready to keep going, and going, and going. She was the one who proposed the Alliance. The United Animorphs Alliance consisted of all the species who had been captured by the Yeerks, or had fought with us or against us. She even took up acting, working with the people on Marco's Television Show to make sets, costumes, etcetera. It was like she couldn't hold still. I was glad she was all right, but sometimes there was a shadow in her eyes. And I knew she hadn't totally gotten over her mother." I told the Councilor. "And today, I saw the same shadow, the same sadness. The Alliance wasn't just a way to bring peace to the galaxy. It was also a way for Feralae to prevent wars, so that no little girl would ever lose her mother again."

Deanna nodded. "It sounds like Feralae went through some kind of depression."

"You don't quite strike me as one to understate a topic." I said, scraping some of the hot fudge from the side of the now nearly empty bowl. I put the spoonful in my mouth, savoring the flavor of chocolate after so long an abstinence. "But yes, right on the button. We weren't sure what to do with her. Feralae loved the Earth. That's her, she loves every world and every people on it like they're family. I'm worried that Feralae, who loves the Earth she knew so much, might fall into that depression again."

"You place emphasis on the Earth as you know it. Would which Earth it was make a difference?" Deanna asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It might, but then again it might not. Like I said, it may not be that that's troubling her. It may just be that something major is on her mind." I finished the last bite of the sundae and set the dish on the coffee table. "I'll ask her about it in the morning." I said with a yawn.

"Right…" Deanna checked the clock. "It's late, and we've got a lot to do tomorrow."

I changed into the pair of pajamas that she'd given me and I fell right into bed.

About the middle of the night I woke to hear Feralae whimpering down our link. Momma, momma don't do it… mother… don't DON'T! AH!

Feralae… I whispered. Feralae are you awake?

Cassie?

Yeah it's me. What happened?

I… I dreamed about my mother again. Feralae said softly. I dreamed about how she… how she died…

You never gave me details about that.

Feralae sobbed. Just before… before she left, she told me that I had a heart big enough to love the Galaxy, and that I should use that heart to unite the worlds.

I felt my heart go out to her. I projected into her mind all the love and sympathy that I could muster. It's gonna be okay. I said softly. You're going to be alright. We can leave this all behind. We're starting over here on the Enterprise.

Feralae sighed in telepathy. Thanks Cassie, for loving me, for caring about me.

You don't even have to thank me. Goodnight Feralae my love.

Goodnight. And I felt her go to sleep. I lay back down on the cot, rolled over, and went to sleep.

I woke the next morning to smell breakfast. What the Hell? Then I remembered the day before. Oh yeah, I'm 14 again. At least I could still morph.

"Morning." Deanna said cheerfully as she carried two plates of pancakes over to the table. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a truck. I'm not exactly a morning person." I yawned, apologizing. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with a grunt. The pancakes were alright, for something made out of the thin air of a replicator. They didn't quite taste like Feralae's cooking though. Feralae doesn't cook well, but she does well enough.

"Considering what happened yesterday I'm surprised you're up this early."

Sure enough, I looked at the clock on the bedside table. Military time, great. Hadn't Marco said to subtract twelve? Right, the clock said 1800 hours. Didn't that mean 6 a.m.?

"I've got a couple of hours to go before my first appointment, so I figured that I could get you started on catching up on what you've missed." Deanna was busy tapping at a data pad. Finding what she wanted she set it aside and turned to the food.

_Morning koibito. _Feralae said cheerfully. _If you want to talk I'm tagging along with Captain Picard. The captain's going to check on things on the bridge._

_Uncle. See you around. _I replied. _I'm eating breakfast. Did you sleep well last night?_

_Relatively. I dreamed about… about mom again. Gods how how how can I let her go? During the war my mother meant everything to me!_ Feralae sighed. _This is going to be harder than I thought._

_It's going to be okay. Just you wait. _I told her fervently. _Besides, the next few days we're going to be so busy that you won't have time to miss her._

_Yeah, you're right. See you around._

Deanna was watching me. Had she heard our conversation? "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing." She smiled warmly. "Finish up those pancakes. You've got a history lesson waiting."


	5. Meet Okami the Rogue!

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

**_Chapter 4_**

Notes:

To set the record straight, _Telepathy_ , Thoughtspeak

In other news, I tried to draw an anime picture of Dax last night. It sucked. (growl) Why is it that I can write two hundred pages of fanfiction and I can't draw to save my life?

Q: I'm going to pull a prank.

YEAY! A PRANK! What are you going to do?

Q: I'm going to turn Kai Winn into a frog.

YEAY! Winn froggy doggy!

Q: I am going to do it now. (flicks hand at Kai Winn and turns her into a frog)

YEAY! Come here froggy!

Winn Froggy: AH GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! (tries to hop away)

(scoops up Winn Froggy) I'm going to hug you to death!

Winn Froggy: PUT ME DOWN YOU BRAT!

Hey Q, I thought frogs weren't supposed to talk!

Q: You're right! (zips Winn Frog's mouth shut) Now say ribbit!

Winn Froggy: ribbit!

Q: There's a good frog.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&Feralae&&&

I speant the morning reading through the ship's history files. Most of the kids in my class back home had found History boring. But to me History was important. Besides, I wanted to know what I had missed.

"Captain, we're picking up a distress call. It's from the Defiant." Worf said, looking up from his station.

I looked up from the lesson to watch as the Defiant came into view. She reminded me roughly of Alloran's ship, the Jahar. Only the Jahar was smaller. The Defiant also didn't have a weapons 'tail.' "Put her through Worf." Picard said, I could tell that he was excited.

"Captain Picard, good to see you again." A black man with intense looking dark eyes wearing a captain's uniform came up on the screen.

"What's the situation Captain Sisko?" Asked Picard.

"A shapeshifter somehow managed to stow away on the Defiant. So far it's put two of Odo's best men in Sickbay. I'm worried that it might decide to attack one of my crewmen or Gul Dukat, who's on his way to the station for diplomatic talks."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Picard asked.

I should have kept my mouth shut. "I could help." I offered.

Every face on two bridges turned to look at me. "Who's this?" Captain Sisko asked.

"My name is Feralae captain. I'm an Animorph. The ship that the Enterprise is towing belongs to my Leader, Jake Berenson." It was true enough, even if Sisko didn't understand what an Animorph was.

"With all respect Feralae, I don't think this is a job for a chi…ld." He stopped when I started morphing.

My hair and skin turned white, bright pure white. Fur rippled from my nose down my body. My muscles doubled, tripled in strength. My face began to puff out into a lion's muzzle and my hair thickened into a mane. My fingers sucked in and became paws, with three inch long, hooked claws as sharp as knives. The data pad slipped to the floor and I skirted around it to come into better view. That was about the time that my tail sprouted out of my butt like a weed. It was followed by the gurgle of rearranging organs. My knees reversed with a sickening crunch and I fell forward onto my paws. My feet rearranged themselves, slipping out of the boots that Picard had gotten for me. The last vestige of humanity, my eyes, (that weren't so human after all, but andilite,) changed from bright green to amber gold.

I padded forward on lion's paws. Still think that it's not a job for a child?

Sisko stared. "Is she a changeling?"

Are changelings also telepaths? I asked. Do they use thoughtspeak like I'm doing now?

"It's a long story Captain." Picard said with a small smile.

"I suppose she could try, provided that she has escort. I'll ask Dax, Kira and Odo to escort her."

"I think Deanna should also go along, to see if we can reason with it." Picard said with a nod.

Deanna stood. "Ready to go Feralae?"

I demorphed, shaking myself out and lining my boots, cape and backpack up along the far wall. Lastly I strapped on my wrist chrono. "Let's do it!"

It wasn't a long trip to the nearest transporter room. "Right." Deanna told me as we climbed up on the platform. "It's disorienting. When the beam is active, be sure to hold as still as possible. The world will seem to dissolve around you."

I nodded. "I've got it, hold still."

"Right. Energize." Deanna told the operator.

The world did seem to dissolve around me. When it faded back in I stumbled out of the beam on the Defiant. "Welcome." A woman with short brown hair and a series of ridges on her nose stood at the forefront of the trio. On her right was a woman with long black hair and spots from her forehead and along her neckline. On her left was a man whose face appeared to have been sculpted from clay. "I'm Major Kira Nerys. These are Odo and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax."

I smiled. "I'm Feralae of the Rachel."

"I'm Councilor Deanna Troi." Deanna shook hands.

"I hear you've got a changeling problem." I said with a grin.

Odo scowled at me. "If that's how you choose to put it."

"Show me the last place that you saw your renegade." I told them, shaking hands around the group. "With any luck my wolf morph should be able to pick up the changeling's scent."

Odo sighed resignedly.

"What's wrong?" I asked as we followed Kira out the door.

"I'm just not used to dealing with children." Odo stated.

"I'm actually twenty two."

"Really?" Dax asked, brightening. "You look thirteen."

"Yeah, well, an accident shrank me. So I'm stuck as a thirteen year old again." I sighed. "I hate having to grow up all over again. I'm lucky that it didn't destroy my morphing powers."

"How do you do that anyway?" Major Kira asked. "I was on the bridge when I saw you morph."

"My adopted people, the Andilites created a technology that enables them to morph into Animals for two hours. After that I'd be trapped." I told them. "But it's good enough." I told them. "I should be able to catch your stowaway. Did he or she leave anything behind?"

Dax shook her head. "We think the renegade changeling is a she, but she managed to tear a piece of one of our security guard's uniforms." She held up the piece.

"I should be able to track her based on that." I said cheerfully. "Since she touched it she might have left a scent."

"Here's where we last saw her." Major Kira said calmly, stopping at a point in the corridor. Sure enough, there were bloodstains on the carpet.

"Eeew." I stated as I bent over to look.

I closed my eyes and focused on the Wolf morph. The first thing that happened was that my hands and feet shrank. I overbalanced and fell over. "Ouch." I stated as the fur began to grow. I decided that it was time to take control of the morph. I made the fur ripple along my body as my hair sucked in. I made my ears slide up the side of my head and my face puff outward to form a wolf's snout. As the wolf's face took hold so did the eyes and teeth. That was good, now the tail, then the insides. My body began to shape itself according to wolf proportions. The tail came out of my rear, like a dog's tail, only gray. The senses came on, the instincts came with it. The wolf smelled blood, alien blood, but blood nonetheless.

Okay, I think I've got it, do you have the cloth? I asked.

Somebody, I think it was Dax, held the cloth in front of my nose. I sniffed. Yes, there was human there, but there was also changeling. It smelled kind of like milk, mixed with water and some other chemical. The wolf thought that it smelled awful.

I put my nose to the ground and picked up a similar scent. I've got it. I followed the scent a few yards down the corridor and paused in front of some kind of hatch. I think it went in here. I said, scrabbling at the hatch.

"A Jeffries tube, great." Major Kira sighed, resignedly. "We could chase it forever in there."

"Dax to Bridge, Benjamin Feralae has found the Changeling's scent. It went into a Jeffries tube on deck 4. The hatch is about five yards beyond the earlier battle site." Dax was saying. I couldn't see her face from here.

"Be careful Old Man." Sisko told her.

"We will." Dax assured him.

Odo shifted into a red and silver furred fox. Major Kira primed her phaser rifle and opened the hatch. "Don't go in yet." She shot a stun bolt through the tube before motioning us in.

I was lucky. The passage way wasn't too small for me to walk through. So I didn't have to crouch. I sniffed, following the scent to a junction. It leads to the right. I told them.

Dax slipped a standard phaser around the corner and shot down the passageway, just to make sure. She was keeping up a stream of regular reports on our location to Sisko so that when the fight was over, they could get help to us easily if we needed it.

I turned and continued until I came to another junction. This one was larger. And just beyond I saw…

"OH NO!" Deanna cried. The two crewmen were security, no doubt about that. They'd been clawed bloody by some creature. What kind of animal leaves traps for their enemies? Leopard? Panther? Deanna scurried forward.

DON'T DO IT! I cried, trying to haul her back.

It was too late. The leopard roared, lunging forward. I knocked Deanna aside as Odo reformed into a cheetah and leapt forward to take the blow. His fangs sank into the creature's neck. The renegade changeling slipped from his bite and reformed into a white wolf with wings. Using it's wings the creature propelled itself forward, leaping faster than I could track. Odo dodged aside and I leapt from the tunnel, howling in rage. Leave her alone! I shouted as I followed Odo into the attack.

Odo reformed into a small dragon and hissed at the oncoming changeling. I leapt. The creature responded by opening it's wings and sailing straight up through the Jeffries tube. Odo growled and flew after her.

ODO YOU PUNKASS! LURE HER DOWN HERE SO I CAN GET HER! I shouted. A roar of rage was the only reply I got. Then the two of them streaked back down. The winged wolf slammed Odo into the deck with a resounding boom. Odo reverted to humanoid form and staggered back. The wolf leapt at him. I leapt at the wolf/changeling.

The three of us smashed into the wall and fell to the floor with a roar of claws and teeth and wings and superhuman punches. I grabbed the wolf by the tail with my teeth and dragged it back. The wolf howled and twisted, trying to get at my vulnerable neck. I leapt onto the winged wolf's back, twisting at her wings. Another howl, this time of anguish and pain. She sat down and tried to throw me off, but I leapt up to the ladder above us. The wolf growled and leapt after me. I scrabbled at the handrail, but without hands I couldn't expect to stay long.

The winged wolf leapt at me, fangs sinking into my vulnerable back. At the same instant I heard a TEWW noise. It was not Major Kira who had fired, nor was it Dax, and Odo didn't have a weapon on him. Nope, dear gentle Deanna Troi had stunned the wolf, which reverted to humanoid form and fell unconscious to the deck. I fell after it, passing out.

I came too in a tiny, cramped, unfamiliar sickbay. I was still wolf, and I couldn't feel the lower half of my body. Crap, how long had I been stuck here? Had I been trapped? I focused bleary eyes on my wrist chrono. FIVE MINUTES LEFT!

I focused with all my might on my human form. But it soon became clear that I had been sedated. It took forever to morph back. The last vestiges of wolf disappeared with one minute left. I sighed in relief and sat up on the medical bed. The morphing had also taken care of whatever sedative that the doctor on this ship had given me.

I looked over. The female changeling that we'd been fighting had also been sedated. She looked about fourteen or fifteen and had black hair instead of blonde like Odo. Her face had that same sort of sculpted look on it.

I yawned. That was when the ship's doctor came out of his tiny office, Dax and Deanna behind him. "Hi, all three of you do me a favor. If I ever get knocked out in morph again, hunt down a nice big syringe of adrenaline and jab it into me. Because I nearly got trapped in a crippled morph!" I said with a cross sounding growl.

The man in a doctor's uniform made a face. "You seem to be alright then. Let's just have a look." He pulled out a medical tricorder. I sighed, waiting patiently. "Amazing, not a single sign of injury."

"That's because my morphing powers heal whatever injuries I get in battle." I explained. "My name's Feralae. I'm an Animorph from the ship, the Rachel." I held out a hand to shake his.

"I'm Dr. Julian Bashir. Pleased to meet you Feralae." He took it. "And you've met Dax."

"Feralae, that was wild. You've got to teach me how to morph sometime." Dax said with a grin. "Although I don't think calling Odo a 'punkass' was a very good idea."

"So I've got a foul mouth." I said with a shrug. Then I looked worriedly at the changeling on the medical bed. "Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine." Dr. Bashir assured me. "We'll have to put her in the brig once she recovers, but other than that."

"But what exactly did she do? I mean, as far as I can tell it was a simple case of being a stowaway. She probably only attacked because she was being chased." I said worriedly.

"Captain's orders." Bashir said with a shrug. "He's worried that since Gul Dukat is on the Defiant, that the changeling might cause a disruption, maybe even hurt him."

"I doubt anything could harm HIM." I said, with an emphasis on the last word.

"You may be right, but we don't know that. So into the brig she goes."

I nodded. "I guess." I sighed.

"So can you tell me a little more about this morphing power of yours?" Dax asked, curious.

"Sure. It allows me to acquire the DNA of any animal and then become that animal for a maximum of two hours. After two hours though, I'd be stuck in that morph, permanently. And I can't become a plant, for example, or an inanimate object. It's entirely based on the DNA of creatures in the Kingdom Animalia. The morphing technology also makes whoever uses it capable of a form of telepathy called thought speak, allowing for communication between morphers in battle."

That was about the time the captains came in. "Captain!" I said cheerfully.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt." Picard said. I could hear and sense the worry in his voice.

"You don't need to worry about me captain. I made it."

"It was irresponsible of me to…"

"To let a kid go on a mission?" I asked, arching my eyebrow with a growl. "You have no idea what this 'kid' accomplished on her own captain. I fought a war at age thirteen, for two and a half years and then I won. After that, I went to the Andilite version of the Academy and started an interplanetary alliance that brought peace to the galaxy. I think I can handle battling a changeling." I stated.

Captain Picard was taken aback by this little speech. Captain Sisko on the other hand didn't take any bull. "You are thirteen once again, you cannot do the things that you were capable of when you were eighteen, for example, or twenty. Feralae I think you should remember that."

I hate people trying to protect me. I really do. They think that just because I'm little I can't do anything, or I'm weaker somehow than the other Animorphs. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was the second strongest Animorph aside from Rachel. I was smart and creative. I was fair. I was kind. I did things that no child has ever had to do in history. I made history and I brought peace to my people, both my peoples. The one thing I hated was somebody even suggesting that I couldn't take care of myself. "With all due respect Captains. I've done just as much during my previous incarnation as you have during your careers. I think I can handle a one on one battle." I said stiffly.

"And what if you get hurt?" Captain Sisko asked, reasonably.

I rolled my eyes. "Morphing is done from DNA, as long as the DNA of my humanoid form is intact I won't get hurt, because the process of demorphing repairs any injuries I sustain in a morphed body. The thing that I actually needed most right then was a surge of adrenaline to wake me up. But after two hours in any morphed body I would have been trapped, hence the need to stay conscious, no matter how bad my injuries may get."

"Well excuse me." Stated Captain Sisko. "But you're onone of our ships, and as long as you're on our ships you'll obey our rules." He turned to Captain Picard, who nodded.

Great, talk about a parental figure. Of course, Sisko has a teenage son, so he knows how to handle willful children. "It comes down to this captains. I HATE people trying to protect me! The other Animorphs did it all the time during the war. I was the littlest Animorph. I was always being left out because the others were worried that I couldn't handle it. Well this time around I won't be left out again."

Deanna rolled her eyes. Dax sighed. "Feralae, all we're saying is that you have to be more careful. After that incident in the Jeffries tube we don't think you might be able to handle a full-scale battle." Dax said reasonably. "That happened to me the first time I changed hosts. I wasn't used to what the new body could do and I ended up straining it."

"And I'm saying that I can handle it." I said stiffly. "And I'm saying that if I didn't push the limits during the war I wouldn't have survived. And I'm saying that I hate people who are older and stronger than I am telling me that I'm not capable of doing something."

That was when the changeling on the medical bed stirred. "Ooooh."

Every head in the tiny sickbay turned.

"What the Hell hit me?" The changeling asked as she sat up, rubbing her head. "Huh? Who are all of you?"

"I am Captain Benjamin Sisko of the Defiant, the ship you stowed away on." Sisko said sternly.

"Damn! You're the first captain to catch me." The Changeling said with a sigh. "I've wandered forever and a day, no name, no home, with only what I can store in my head for company."

"You don't have a name?" I asked worriedly.

"No name, no origin, none." The teenage changeling said sadly. "I'm a rogue."

"Well, I know what you are. You're a changeling." I told her. "As for a name, I think you should choose one."

"Well… I'll try to pick a name…. How about Taka-Okami, or Okami for short."

"You mean the winged wolf of Japanese Myth?" I asked.

"The very same." Okami replied. "I've been hiding in the Defiant's Jeffries tubes since it left Cardassia. I'd had enough of those lizards anyway."

I saw Sisko roll his eyes. Captain Picard had a smile on his face. "I don't think she needs to go to the Brig." Picard said to Sisko.

"For safety's sake she should. But I have an idea. Why don't we put Odo in charge of her? He never gets to meet any of his own species, it would be good for him."

"Sounds feasible." Picard agreed.

So Sisko called Odo down. "What's your name?" Asked Okami.

"My name is Feralae." I said, and we shook hands.

Before Picard, Deanna and I would have left for the transporter room to go back to the Enterprise Picard's combadge beeped. "Riker to Picard."

"Go ahead number one." Said Picard.

"You have a visitor in your ready room." Riker sounded annoyed. "He's waiting for you."

"Prepare to beam us directly to my ready room then." Picard told him.

We reached the transporter room. I stepped up onto the pad and said, at the exact same time as my Captain. "Energize."

The transporter room faded out, the ready room faded in. When Picard saw who the visitor was, he growled angrily.

That made me pay attention. The visitor had wild brown hair and mischievous brown eyes.

"Q!" Picard growled. "What brings you here?"


	6. In for a penny, in for a Q

In the Arms of the Goddess 

By Nyassa Kaiba

Chapter 5- Feralae 

Yup, Q had come to the Enterprise once again. In for a penny in for a pound weren't we?

"What do you want Q?" Picard was clearly annoyed.

"That's no way to treat a guest Jean-Luc." Q said with a smirk. "Especially when I bring you news. Why, I ought to turn around right here and now and not…"

"Just tell us what you want Q!" Picard growled.

I rolled my eyes. "It's about us Animorphs isn't it?"

"Right on the button!" Q said happily. "My somebody here has manners! But yes, mon capitan, I came about the Animorphs. I came to tell you that neither I, nor any of my species are responsible for their being here."

"That's all?" Picard asked, face twitching.

"Well that's not all. You see, I've detected an odd presence following the ship. It's not a malevolent one. But the frustrating thing is that I can't tell WHAT it is. It might be is a Q Ghost. But then again it might not."

"A what?" Deanna asked.

"Well, you see, we Q can't be killed. But sometimes we can be weakened to the point where we lose our sentience. We become shades, ghosts, and tend to trail ships or other objects, acting on instinct instead of reason. Ghosts can cause quite a lot of trouble, power failure, shield problems, weapons malfunction, things like that. If it is a ghost of course. I consulted some of the oldest Q I know and they weren't even sure what it was." Q explained.

"So it might be the ghost of one of your people?" Picard asked. "What do we do if it is?"

"Well, you see, the ghosts will eventually go away, or they'll cause trouble, or they'll disappear back to the Continuum. The only thing a mortal can do is hope that it goes away soon. But here's the reason why we don't think that it's a ghost. Another Q can read the mind of a ghost, read its intent and identify it. I can't get a reading or an ID on it." Q explained. "Its very frustrating." He checked a watch. "I can't stay long. I have urgent business in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway's gotten herself into a sticky again." He sighed, rolling his eyes tolerantly. Then without another word, Q disappeared.

"That's all she wrote." I rolled my eyes. "Oh well. He's omnipotent, he can't help it."

Picard chuckled. Deanna laughed. "You have quite a sense of humor. But what if it was this ghost that brought you here?"

"Q said that none of the other Q brought us here. That means no active Q and no Q ghost either." I said with a shrug. "Councilor, this isn't the first time I've been stuck at square one."

That was when Cassie's voice sang out into my mind. I'm glad you're home! I'm glad you're home! I welcome you with heart and voice, and hope you'll never leave! 

Good to see you too Cassie. I said with a mental chuckle.

Don't you EVER worry me like that again! Cassie exclaimed. I thought you were gonna be trapped in wolf morph! 

I had five minutes left before I would have been trapped. I stated.

That's cutting it awful fine. 

It's not their fault. I know that no Starfleet Doctor could know how to cope with an Animorph. I explained as I walked out onto the bridge to retrieve my shoes and bag.

I felt Deanna's eyes on me as I hunkered down in my corner of the bridge. I felt her trying to touch my mind. Great, had she heard me talking to Cassie? "You know, we really should get you a chair." Deanna joked.

"I'm fine thanks." I said with a smile. I scooped up my work and went into the ready room. Fiercely independent, that was the impression that I wanted to give, even though I could sense her hurt feelings. I just didn't want my fellow Animorphs knowing about my link with Cassie. They would ask awkward questions about how it had happened, and I wasn't ready for that yet.

I sighed, pulling on my headphones and putting on the Killers, "Mr. Brightside." But the music didn't work, because the line, "It was only a kiss," got to me more than anything. It reminded me of how this whole stupid adventure started in the first place, with me stupidly bringing the blue box to school, where the controller Chapman spotted it. From there Chapman had told Visser One. Visser One had raided my house twice before he found out that I had always carried the box on me. Then he had kidnapped my parents, and would have gotten me too, except that I was in the barn. And I had time to morph to lion, then hork bajir, and gorilla in order to defeat the Visser.

I was so wrapped up in gloomy self-pity that I didn't notice the door whoosh open. I didn't notice Deanna walk in, watching me from the doorway. My eyes flicked in her direction when I sensed movement next to me. She just watched me for a moment, trying to get into my head. I was unlike anybody she had experience with in her capacity as ship's councilor. She was concerned as both councilor and friend.

The song finished and I took off the headset, switching it off. "Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell anybody about your link with Cassie?" Deanna asked.

"Because it raises too many questions, ones that I'm not comfortable asking or discussing, with anybody." I stated. "Next question please."

"Feralae this is not a joke." Deanna was upset at the way I dismissed something like that. "Telepathic powers are taken very seriously in the Federation."

"No, it's not a joke it's called personal business." I replied coolly.

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play. Just don't wait too long to tell your friends, or us, about it. Because if you wait too long it could become a problem." Her words were almost prophetic. But at the time they merely made me angry.

"I won't wait too long. But I will keep my business to myself, please and thank you." I growled and put my headphones back on.

She growled and stomped back out, and I turned back to a history of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict. Good idea to keep on top of things. About three hours later the door slid open again. "I see you've been busy." Picard said calmly. "Riker wanted to take you and your friends to the holodeck to show you how they work."

"Glad to get up and stretch my legs." I said, standing. The confrontation with Deanna was almost forgotten.

But when we made it into the turbo lift Riker asked. "What did you say to make Deanna so angry? I've never seen her that livid."

I growled in response. "I soundly hope that she doesn't carry grudges."

"She usually doesn't. But usually people don't spurn her advice." Riker chuckled.

"She was also prying into matters that I didn't care to discuss at the moment." I explained, hoping he'd get the hint.

Riker held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Say no more."

Riker led us through a maze of passageways until he came to an archway set back into the door. The other Animorphs were waiting for him, trying not to look conspicuous.

The lesson that followed was very useful. As Riker showed us how to program backgrounds and costumes I compared what I heard to what I'd learned working on Erek's hologram programs. The Chee had a radically different form of holography. But when we finally came out into our first holodeck program, it was worth it.

The program displayed a forest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. As we watched I saw whales doing their dance in the waters beyond. The area looked like southern Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. It was tranquil and beautiful.

That evening I opened up a log feature on the data pad that Picard had gotten for me. The date came up automatically.

_My name is Feralae._ I wrote. _This is my log. I am 22 years old, although some unknown force has turned me back into a child, about thirteen years old. This makes things awkward when I try to deal with the Starfleet Officers on the ship. I feel out of place in my gaudy blue Animorph Uniform. But I cling to it with pride because it reminds me of home. _

_Recently I've been having problems, remembering how my mother died. I remember how she committed suicide on the battle field, just moments away from freedom. _

_That's all for tonight. As the Andilites say, "From the rising of the sun, to it's setting, to it's rising again; we place what is hard to endure with what is sweet to remember and find peace."_

As I fell asleep I had a REALLY weird dream. I was standing in sickbay. There was a pale white light around me, just like the dream when I woke up on the Enterprise. Dr. Crusher was standing to my left. Dr. Bashir stood to my right. "Keep an eye on Rachel." Said Dr. Crusher.

"Rachel is important." Agreed Dr. Bashir.

"How is Rachel important?" I asked. Once again the creatures, or whatever they were, were taking the form of people that I'd met, choosing scenery that I recognized. Who were they? Why did they do that? And why the Hell did this scenario seem so familiar?

"Rachel is important to the Trill." They said in unison.

"Why? How? Which Trill?" I demanded, greatly disconcerted.

But they were gone. I woke up, sitting straight up in bed with a soft cry. Nervously, I looked over to the room where the Captain was sleeping. He was sound asleep, not disturbed in the slightest.

"What the Hell was that?" I demanded to nobody.

The silent humming of the ship was the only answer I got.


	7. The Sleep of Reason Produces Puzzles

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 5- Feralae_**

Yup, Q had come to the Enterprise once again. In for a penny in for a pound weren't we?

"What do you want Q?" Picard was clearly annoyed.

"That's no way to treat a guest Jean-Luc." Q said with a smirk. "Especially when I bring you news. Why, I ought to turn around right here and now and not…"

"Just tell us what you want Q!" Picard growled.

I rolled my eyes. "It's about us Animorphs isn't it?"

"Right on the button!" Q said happily. "My somebody here has manners! But yes, mon capitan, I came about the Animorphs. I came to tell you that neither I, nor any of my species are responsible for their being here."

"That's all?" Picard asked, face twitching.

"Well that's not all. You see, I've detected an odd presence following the ship. It's not a malevolent one. But the frustrating thing is that I can't tell WHAT it is. It might be is a Q Ghost. But then again it might not."

"A what?" Deanna asked.

"Well, you see, we Q can't be killed. But sometimes we can be weakened to the point where we lose our sentience. We become shades, ghosts, and tend to trail ships or other objects, acting on instinct instead of reason. Ghosts can cause quite a lot of trouble, power failure, shield problems, weapons malfunction, things like that. If it is a ghost of course. I consulted some of the oldest Q I know and they weren't even sure what it was." Q explained.

"So it might be the ghost of one of your people?" Picard asked. "What do we do if it is?"

"Well, you see, the ghosts will eventually go away, or they'll cause trouble, or they'll disappear back to the Continuum. The only thing a mortal can do is hope that it goes away soon. But here's the reason why we don't think that it's a ghost. Another Q can read the mind of a ghost, read its intent and identify it. I can't get a reading or an ID on it." Q explained. "Its very frustrating." He checked a watch. "I can't stay long. I have urgent business in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway's gotten herself into a sticky again." He sighed, rolling his eyes tolerantly. Then without another word, Q disappeared.

"That's all she wrote." I rolled my eyes. "Oh well. He's omnipotent, he can't help it."

Picard chuckled. Deanna laughed. "You have quite a sense of humor. But what if it was this ghost that brought you here?"

"Q said that none of the other Q brought us here. That means no active Q and no Q ghost either." I said with a shrug. "Councilor, this isn't the first time I've been stuck at square one."

That was when Cassie's voice sang out into my mind. _I'm glad you're home! I'm glad you're home! I welcome you with heart and voice, and hope you'll never leave!_

Good to see you too Cassie. I said with a mental chuckle.

_Don't you EVER worry me like that again!_ Cassie exclaimed. _I thought you were gonna be trapped in wolf morph!_

_I had five minutes left before I would have been trapped._ I stated.

_That's cutting it awful fine._

_It's not their fault. I know that no Starfleet Doctor could know how to cope with an Animorph. _I explained as I walked out onto the bridge to retrieve my shoes and bag.

I felt Deanna's eyes on me as I hunkered down in my corner of the bridge. I felt her trying to touch my mind. Great, had she heard me talking to Cassie? "You know, we really should get you a chair." Deanna joked.

"I'm fine thanks." I said with a smile. I scooped up my work and went into the ready room. Fiercely independent, that was the impression that I wanted to give, even though I could sense her hurt feelings. I just didn't want my fellow Animorphs knowing about my link with Cassie. They would ask awkward questions about how it had happened, and I wasn't ready for that yet.

I sighed, pulling on my headphones and putting on the Killers, "Mr. Brightside." But the music didn't work, because the line, "It was only a kiss," got to me more than anything. It reminded me of how this whole stupid adventure started in the first place, with me stupidly bringing the blue box to school, where the controller Chapman spotted it. From there Chapman had told Visser One. Visser One had raided my house twice before he found out that I had always carried the box on me. Then he had kidnapped my parents, and would have gotten me too, except that I was in the barn. And I had time to morph to lion, then hork bajir, and gorilla in order to defeat the Visser.

I was so wrapped up in gloomy self-pity that I didn't notice the door whoosh open. I didn't notice Deanna walk in, watching me from the doorway. My eyes flicked in her direction when I sensed movement next to me. She just watched me for a moment, trying to get into my head. I was unlike anybody she had experience with in her capacity as ship's councilor. She was concerned as both councilor and friend.

The song finished and I took off the headset, switching it off. "Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell anybody about your link with Cassie?" Deanna asked.

"Because it raises too many questions, ones that I'm not comfortable asking or discussing, with anybody." I stated. "Next question please."

"Feralae this is not a joke." Deanna was upset at the way I dismissed something like that. "Telepathic powers are taken very seriously in the Federation."

"No, it's not a joke it's called personal business." I replied coolly.

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play. Just don't wait too long to tell your friends, or us, about it. Because if you wait too long it could become a problem." Her words were almost prophetic. But at the time they merely made me angry.

"I won't wait too long. But I will keep my business to myself, please and thank you." I growled and put my headphones back on.

She growled and stomped back out, and I turned back to a history of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict. Good idea to keep on top of things. About three hours later the door slid open again. "I see you've been busy." Picard said calmly. "Riker wanted to take you and your friends to the holodeck to show you how they work."

"Glad to get up and stretch my legs." I said, standing. The confrontation with Deanna was almost forgotten.

But when we made it into the turbo lift Riker asked. "What did you say to make Deanna so angry? I've never seen her that livid."

I growled in response. "I soundly hope that she doesn't carry grudges."

"She usually doesn't. But usually people don't spurn her advice." Riker chuckled.

"She was also prying into matters that I didn't care to discuss at the moment." I explained, hoping he'd get the hint.

Riker held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Say no more."

Riker led us through a maze of passageways until he came to an archway set back into the door. The other Animorphs were waiting for him, trying not to look conspicuous.

The lesson that followed was very useful. As Riker showed us how to program backgrounds and costumes I compared what I heard to what I'd learned working on Erek's hologram programs. The Chee had a radically different form of holography. But when we finally came out into our first holodeck program, it was worth it.

The program displayed a forest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. As we watched I saw whales doing their dance in the waters beyond. The area looked like southern Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. It was tranquil and beautiful.

That evening I opened up a log feature on the data pad that Picard had gotten for me. The date came up automatically.

_My name is Feralae._ I wrote. _This is my log. I am 22 years old, although some unknown force has turned me back into a child, about thirteen years old. This makes things awkward when I try to deal with the Starfleet Officers on the ship. I feel out of place in my gaudy blue Animorph Uniform. But I cling to it with pride because it reminds me of home. _

_Recently I've been having problems, remembering how my mother died. I remember how she committed suicide on the battle field, just moments away from freedom. _

_That's all for tonight. As the Andilites say, "From the rising of the sun, to it's setting, to it's rising again; we place what is hard to endure with what is sweet to remember and find peace."_

As I fell asleep I had a REALLY weird dream. I was standing in sickbay. There was a pale white light around me, just like the dream when I woke up on the Enterprise. Dr. Crusher was standing to my left. Dr. Bashir stood to my right. "Keep an eye on Rachel." Said Dr. Crusher.

"Rachel is important." Agreed Dr. Bashir.

"How is Rachel important?" I asked. Once again the creatures, or whatever they were, were taking the form of people that I'd met, choosing scenery that I recognized. Who were they? Why did they do that? And why the Hell did this scenario seem so familiar?

"Rachel is important to the Trill." They said in unison.

"Why? How? Which Trill?" I demanded, greatly disconcerted.

But they were gone. I woke up, sitting straight up in bed with a soft cry. Nervously, I looked over to the room where the Captain was sleeping. He was sound asleep, not disturbed in the slightest.

"What the Hell was that?" I demanded to nobody.

The silent humming of the ship was the only answer I got.


	8. Sick Trill, bad news

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 6-Jake_**

My name is Jake. While Feralae was dreaming I was sitting in the small room off Sickbay while Dr. Crusher finished up her work for the evening. She was supposed to meet Deanna after work and go to Ten Forward for a drink or two. While she worked, I worked on a lesson.

Deanna came in. "Almost done?" She asked as Crusher worked on typing up her report for the end of the day.

"Just about." Dr. Crusher replied. "Just one more…"

The door opened again to admit two people in engineering uniforms. One of them, a trill I think by the spots, was leaning on the other, tottering, barely able to stand. The other was human.

"What happened?" Dr. Crusher asked worriedly, rushing over with a tricorder. Deanna backed off, letting the woman work.

"Ensign Zia collapsed." The human replied. "We found him in an alcove off the Engineering. Mr. La Forge told me to bring him down here."

"Here, set him down on this bed over here." Dr. Crusher replied.

"Sorry to be a trouble Doctor." Zia mumbled.

"You aren't a trouble at all." Dr. Crusher replied as she scanned him. "Hmm… this is odd."

"What is?" Asked the human with him.

"Weyler go tell Geordi that Zia is off work. Right now, go." Dr. Crusher replied.

"Right." Weyler replied. He hurried out.

Deanna sighed. "Looks like it's off for tonight."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow night then." Dr. Crusher replied. "That is, if Zia's taken care of."

"Okay what's wrong?" Zia asked.

"I'm not sure what it is. I'll be back in a moment." Dr. Crusher sighed, walking back into the alcove. She called up a ship-to-ship communication.

"Bashir here." Dr. Bashir's face appeared on the screen.

"Dr. Bashir we have a mystery over here."

"Oh?"

"There's a sick trill over here and it seems like his DNA is degrading, unraveling. I've never seen anything like it." Dr. Crusher replied. "Do you have any idea what might be going on?"

"There are a couple of things that might be going on. Did the genetic degradation affect the symbiont?" Dr. Bashir asked.

"No it didn't." Dr. Crusher replied.

"Send me the symptoms." Dr. Bashir replied.

As I watched, Dr. Crusher sent a list of the symptoms to Bashir on the Defiant.

Bashir scanned the broadcast. "Wow. I never thought I'd see this. It's called Railer's Disease. It's not contagious. But there's no way to cure it. It's genetic. It happens when there's a significant portion of the RNA missing from a large portion of cells. The effect it has is something like a broken zipper. The cell can't divide and the DNA begins to degrade, killing the cell. Starfleet Medical was working on a cure, but they're too far from possibly finding one for your patient."

"What can I do?"

"Keep an eye on him is all you can do, and be prepared to make an emergency run to the Trill homeworld to bring the Symbiont back." Replied Bashir.

Dr. Crusher groaned. Then she noticed me staring at her. "Sorry, Jake could you go back to our quarters and tell Wesley that I'll be home late?"

"Sure." I sighed. This was not going to be a very good couple of days. My father was a doctor. No doctor likes to lose somebody, and it looked exactly like that was what Dr. Crusher was about to do.

I stood up and walked out, taking the data pad I had been working on with me. That was about the time I ran into Rachel. She was limping and had a skinned chin. "What happened to you?" I asked.

"I tripped coming out of the Turbo Lift." Rachel complained, dabbing at her chin with her sleeve. "Damn, that stings."

"Dr. Crusher is busy with an urgent case. It seems that one of the Trill onboard has some kind of genetic disease."

"Oh dear. It's not deadly is it?"

"According her it is." I explained. "How about if I take you down there myself." I suggested.

"Thanks." Said Rachel. She yawned. "What a busy day. I had to shadow Riker every which way. You'd be surprised some of the things a first officer does."

Rachel and I made our way back to Sickbay. Rachel steadied herself against me as we walked. "Rachel… I… I was so sorry about… about sending you in like that…"

"Jake don't beat yourself up over it. I did what had to be done." Rachel replied.

We came back in and Dr. Crusher swore. "What happened now?"

"I tripped." Rachel replied.

"I met her half way." I explained.

"Well, I've managed to sedate Zia, so I can take care of you now." Dr. Crusher explained.

Rachel sat down on one of the medical beds. Crusher gave her the poke and prod, healing Rachel's scrapes and bruises and the twisted ankle. But all the while Rachel kept turning to look at the sick Trill. "What's wrong with him?"

"Patient confidentiality, sorry." Dr. Crusher said as she concentrated on healing a bruise on Rachel's foot.

"Okay." She sighed.

Dr. Crusher finished the healing and then we headed back up to the Crusher family quarters. "See you tomorrow Rachel." I told her.

"See you too." Rachel replied.

Wesley practically pounced on me when I came in. "Okay, where's mom?"

"An emergency came up. Something about a sick Trill." I explained as I sat down on the couch in the living room.

"There's only one Trill on the Enterprise, Ensign Korona Zia." Wesley replied. "I hope it's not too serious. Trill are cool." Wesley shook his head. "Did you manage to overhear anything?"

"It was puzzling enough for Crusher to consult Dr. Bashir on the Defiant." I replied. "And I heard that whatever it was, it doesn't have a cure."

"That's rough. Mom will probably be under a lot of stress after this." Wesley shook his head. "I know, why don't we get her a cup of tea when she comes in. Grandma always said that if you want to calm a person down you should get them a cup of tea."

"I suppose." I said thoughtfully. "My grandpa, Grandpa G used to say the same thing." I was always wary of Wesley. He was kind of a fanboy. Or at least he acted like it. I was never easy around other people after the war. It came from being a celebrity. And he had actually read a book about our adventures. I didn't realize that they had books about us until he had told me last night.

Like I said, it was taking some getting used to. I sighed, digging through the clothes that had been replicated for me. Somewhere in the pile was my iPod. Each of us had brought one with us before leaving, filled with our favorite songs. It brought us closer to home.

About half an hour later Dr. Beverly Crusher came in, exhausted. "Mom, is everything alright?" Wesley asked. He'd been keeping tabs on his mother through the computer system, so the cup of tea was ready for her on the kitchen table. "I made some tea for you. Jake said you'd had a rough day."

She sighed. "Thanks Wes. I could use it. I ended up with a terminal case today. And no, I won't tell you about it." Crusher couldn't be coaxed into saying anything more. She sipped the tea gratefully. "How was your day?"

"Did checks on the shuttlecraft." Wesley replied. "I'm smaller than the other repairmen, so I ended up slipping into places the others couldn't make it into."

"You're clever with your fingers too. We may need one of those shuttles in the next couple of days. Ensign Zia has to pay a visit to his Homeworld." She sighed again. "Something tells me that it's only a matter of time until all Hell breaks loose."

Wesley chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. I'll pick something out for dinner okay? You just relax and let me and Jake take care of things."

I followed him to the replicator. "So what do we pick?" Wesly asked.

"Well… how about pasta with pesto? Feralae used to make that back in her cabin. She made some for the Fourth of July one year."

"Right, Pesto coming up. I'll get it and you set the table okay?"

"Sure."

In about five minutes dinner was ready. The three of us sat at the table and dinner conversation began. "So Jake, did you hear about Feralae's adventure today?" Wesley asked.

"No, what adventure?" I asked, sitting up straight in my chair.

"There was a changeling loose on the Defiant. Feralae and Councilor Troi beamed over to see if they could help. Feralae morphed wolf and she and Constable Odo beat the crap out of the changeling. It turns out the shape shifter was a teenager by her culture's standards, and didn't even know about the war with the Dominion. She didn't even have a name, so the teenage changeling chose the name Okami." Wesley explained.

"It sounds like something Feralae would do." I said with an annoyed sigh. "Okami means wolf."

"That's what the Ensign who told me said. She's Nisei, from one of the ghettos in San Francisco, and she knows her ancestor's language really well." Wesley explained.

"Oh, Ensign Himiko." Dr. Crusher said with a smile. "You told me about her."

"Yeah, since she's engineering she was asked to help with the shuttle checks." Wesley explained. "And she always knows the gossip around here. She said that Captain Sisko asked Odo to take Okami in for now."

"I never took you to be a gossip Wesley." I said with a chuckle. "Rachel was bad enough in her day. Like the time she opened her big mouth about me and Cassie right before a school dance."

"Speaking of which, what happened to you and Cassie?" Asked Dr. Crusher.

"Well, um… we sort of… grew apart, especially towards the end of the war. We didn't see eye to eye anymore. I guess you could say that we're not together anymore. She's closer to Feralae now than she is to me." That was sad. I kept meaning to talk to Cassie, to see if that flame was still there. But I never got up the guts.

"Too bad." Dr. Crusher said with a chuckle.

"I could find you a girlfriend." Wesley teased.

"Hey, I can find my own girlfriends thank you very much." I said with a low growl.

"Okay, jeesh." Wesley turned back to his food. "hm… this pesto is actually really good."

I sat through dinner in sullen silence. Feralae had always been able to handle herself. But she could at least have told me, or had there been time to do it?

I fell asleep and had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that Rachel was morphing Trill, and slipping into a cave, into the pool where the symbionts stayed until they got a new host. But most of my dreams never made sense. This one was no different, so the next morning I thought nothing of it.


	9. An Ill Wind that Blows Action

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 7- Rachel_**

The next morning, since Riker, Picard and Deanna spent a good part of their morning on the bridge theFeralae, Cassie and Iended up sitting or standing in the lounge, working on the latest in a series of history and culture lessons. Picard wanted us finished with a history of the Federation and working on Bajoran culture by the time we reached Deep Space Nine. Picard was doing paper work at the other end when the door beeped.

"Come." Picard replied.

Dr. Crusher came in. "Captain. I thought I should bring this to you." Dr. Crusher said, setting down a report. "It's serious. It's not a threat to the ship, just a threat to the individual. And according to Dr. Bashir there's nothing we can do about it."

Picard read the report, lips pursing as he realized the significance. "Zia just barely finished at the academy. This is unfortunate. I want a shuttle prepared and ready to go the moment Zia's ready to go. In the meantime I think we'd better be prepared to find somebody who can do what Riker did and carry the symbiont for a few days. We might even be able to get Sisko to help us."

"I could help." I suggested.

"How?" Picard stated, turning to us. "Do you even know what's going on?"

"I gathered from your conversation, that there's a sick Trill on board and that he's going to die and somebody has to carry his or her symbiont until it can be taken to the Trill homeworld. Only there's some kind of risk involved and not just anybody can take it." I explained.

"You guessed most of it."

"Rachel you know Jake is going to say no." Feralae pointed out. "And Tobias too. I mean, we just barely got you back. And I think I know the incident they're referring to. This situation came up oncebefore and that time it was Riker who had to carry the symbiont. Only humans weren't equipped, biologically speaking, to carry one. So Riker nearly died. After you coming back from the dead we're not about to lose you again."

"We have at least twelve hours." Dr. Crusher explained. "It's going to have to be somebody captain. I also think we'll ask Captain Sisko if Lt. Jadzia Dax can help out."

"I think that would be wise to speak to Dr. Bashir, Captain Sisko and Lt. Dax." Picard said as he tapped out a note to Captain Sisko to speak to him as soon as possible, to bring Dr. Bashir and Lt. Dax with him. "Now we wait. I don't think I'll decide about Rachel right away."

Feralae shook her head. "What's wrong Feralae?" I asked.

"It's got to be you Rachel. I think you're the only one of us who could make it." Feralae stated.

"Well I thank you for your confidence, but I'm not the only one who could make it." I said, embarrassed.

"Never mind." She sighed, leaning back in her chair and turning to the passage about the Cardassian Occupation.

"We'd better get back to our lessons, because once Captain Sisko and company get here all Hell is going to break loose." Cassie pointed out.

I nodded, thinking of what was to come. If they said yes, even considering the risks, it would be an incredible chance. I would get a Trill's eye view of what Dax and the others had to go through. It would be an incredible chance.

Deanna was eyeing me. "You're actually excited about this?"

"It's an incredible chance."

"It's also an incredible responsibility." She pointed out.

"I've handled responsibility." I pointed out, like the time the council of thirteen inspector had come to Earth. Okay I had messed that one up big time, but I had handled responsibility. "I'm glad to see some action first of all. Second of all I want to see things from, well, sort of a Trill's eye view, I was always curious about them. Third of all it's an incredible chance." I was ticking off the points on my fingers.

"Rachel's the only one who can handle it." Feralae pointed out.

"No she's not. Remember? I handled Aldrea's ixilla." Cassie pointed out.

"So you shouldn't have to do something like that again." I pointed out. "It's only fair. And when that happened I was worrying about you the whole time. I don't want you to try that again." Feralae pointed out.

"Why Feralae, I didn't know you cared." Cassie teased.

Feralae flushed. "You know what I mean Cassie."

"You're right, I do, but we're always trying to protect you and you don't like it. So you shouldn't try to protect us." Cassie pointed out.

"It has to be Rachel." Feralae argued.

"Why Feralae?" I wondered.

Feralae shook her head. "Just a feeling is all, a gut feeling that if any of us others were to try it we'd end up messing the whole thing up."

That was when the computer beeped. Picard turned it on. "Sisko here, what is this about?" Captain Sisko asked via the transmission.

Picard explained. "Do you think you, Bashir and Dax could come to the Enterprise to discuss this?"

"I can head out right now." Captain Sisko agreed. "We'll see you in ten."

"See you in ten." Agreed Picard.

I waited for ten minutes, working on the lesson I'd been given. The door beeped. "Come." Picard stated.

Sisko, Bashir and Dax strode in. "Rachel are you insane?" Dax demanded.

"Who are you, Marco? Or my mother?" I demanded.

"Neither, but I don't think it will work for a human."

"It worked for a few weeks with Riker." Deanna pointed out. "It was a bit of an embarrassing situation, but it got the job done. And there's no unjoined Trill on board the Enterprise, so that's out."

"I am inclined to let Rachel do it." Sisko said, steepling his fingers and looking thoughtfully across the table at me. "But I think we ought to get the other Animorphs in here to think about it."

Fifteen minutes later, the others came and Jake said. "No way."

"Jake she has to do it." Feralae said calmly. "Nobody else is going to be able to handle it."

"You don't know that Feralae." Jake pointed out.

"Yes I do." Feralae argued. "Jake just trust me on this. Rachel's the one only one who can do it."

"How DO you know that?" Jadzia asked.

"It's… okay it's stupid, but last night I had this strange dream. I was standing in Sickbay and both Dr. Crusher and Dr. Bashir were there, only, they didn't act like themselves. And the whole place was bathed in a sort of… a whitish glow. And both of them said that Rachel was important to the Trill, only they wouldn't say which trill they meant, so I supposed they meant Dax at the time. But this makes more sense." Feralae stated.

"But that was only a dream Feralae." Deanna pointed out.

But Sisko was staring at her, clearly shocked and not believing what he was seeing. "A whitish glow?" Sisko asked.

"Surely you don't believe her?"

But Sisko and Dax had turned to each other. "No way. How could they get out of it?" Dax demanded.

"I don't know old man. But it seems that they have."

"What has?" Picard asked.

"There's a possibility that the Wormhole Aliens have managed to leave the Wormhole."

Deanna blinked. "Remember what Q said about a presence following the ship?" She asked Picard.

"But how could the Prophets have left the Wormhole?" Dr. Bashir asked. "What could they have used?"

"I don't know Doctor, but however they did it, they're very likely here now." Sisko stated. "Picard, this could be trouble. But I've had several encounters with them, and these creatures know a lot more about whatever situation we've been in than we have. I think we should trust them."

"I'd rather have some form of scientific proof." Picard said, hesitantly. "I do, however, trust your judgment."

I stretched, cracking my joints. "Let's do it!"

"Meanwhile, Captain, we do have a problem." Sisko stated. "Our sensors detected two Cardassian ships heading straight for us. Dukat says that he knows nothing about it, but he thinks they may be coming to consult with him. I'd like to know what happens in that meeting. I was thinking send Odo and Okami in the ventilation shafts. But Odo says that they'll both have to go back to their original forms by the time those two ships get here. Which leaves me with no way to know what's going to happen. I would like to take Feralae over to the Defiant for a few hours, both so that we can consult Major Kira and be there when those ships get here." Sisko explained.

"I'll come too." Cassie offered.

And I. Alloran offered.

"I'd prefer if one more of us goes as well." Jake said calmly. "If nobody else then I'll…"

"I'll take care of it Jake." Marco offered. "I think it's time I stretched my morphing limbs, if you know what I mean."

"Okay, that makes four of you. Feralae, you're in charge." Jake told her.

"Me?" Feralae asked.

"Yes you. You're the one that has prophetic Aliens following you around." He pointed out.

"Jake that's not fair!" Feralae protested.

"You're right." Jake said, apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Right. Let's get going then." Feralae said, standing. "As a brave man once said, 'Let's roll!'"

"Let's roll people." Jake agreed.


	10. Gul has nothing up his sleeves

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

**_Chapter 8- Feralae_**

While Dax briefed Rachel on what to expect, Marco, Alloran, Cassie and I prepared for the mission. For them it meant studying a layout of the ventilation shafts. We were going to use bat morphs in order to tell where we were going. At least one of us would be carrying a communicator so that we could be tracked. Odo and Okami would follow us in the form of squirrels. Odo had protested vigorously to that form, but Okami pointed out that Bats and Squirrels were some of the only forms that could slip through the ventilation shafts.

Sisko practically dragged me to Major Kira's quarters on the Defiant. "What's happened now?" She asked, curious, looking up from the pad she was reading.

Sisko explained about the dream as I grew redder and redder with embarrassment.

"But that doesn't explain anything! The Prophets have you why would they want to appear to a little girl? And why would they leave the wormhole? HOW would they leave the wormhole?" Major Kira was definitely flustered.

"I have no idea. But I suspect that Winn will have some idea what's going on." Sisko explained.

"Kai Winn has better things to do, and besides, children are more easily controlled than adults. She'll try to manipulate Feralae and the other Animorphs to her own ends, shamelessly I might add. I mean… when I think of it, I may not like the Cardassian leader, Dukat, but our own Winn is no saint either." The major was pacing up and down in her quarters, data pad forgotten at her tiny desk.

Sisko let her vent. "I think, however, that we should find somebody to teach her about the Bajoran faith, hopefully somebody who won't tell anyone what's happened." Sisko said calmly.

Major Kira thought for a moment. "Hmm… somebody discrete. I think I know, She's a Vedek at a Shrine in the old city of Katik. Her name is Teret Izual. She's the youngest Vedek in history, about nineteen, and she's no friend of Winn's. I met her on a raid one time. I was injured and she and the other priestesses at the shrine cared for me until I could return to the cell. I'd say she owes me a favor or two. Feralae will have to learn Bajoran of course. But ours is not a hard language to learn." Kira peered down at me. "Did you have any visions before this?"

So I told her about the vision I'd had before waking up on the Enterprise. "They referred to me as a Child of Light." I told her. "They said that I was to be a Warrior, an Artist and an Explorer. That's kind of like the three fold path that Andilite Warriors take when they're accepted to the Andilite Military Academy. The Warrior is required to be an Artist and a Scientist as well as a fighter. Because they were so similar, and because I was injured at the time, I didn't think anything of it." I explained.

"So it wasn't an isolated incident." Sisko mused. "More reason to get her lessons. That's all, basic lessons. Although… Feralae, can you morph sentient species?"

"It's not that we can't, we Animorphs just don't choose to. We do it out of respect for other sentient creatures. However, there is a way to combine the DNA of several individuals to make a new morph, a disguise of sorts. It's called the Frolis Manuver. Alloran taught it to me. If I can acquire enough DNA samples then I can create a new identity."

"That's good." Major Kira said, nodding her approval. "Humans aren't always welcome on Bajor, especially in Katik. There are at least three Anti-Federation/Anti-government Resistance cells operating in that area. Heaven forbid if they get their hands on an Animorph."

"Nobody can chain an Animorph for long. Sometimes not even a forcefield can keep us out." I pointed out. "Then we would either morph something small and run away or morph something big and kick butt."

Sisko chuckled. "Yes, but we don't want them to know about the morphing technology yet if we can help it. Because if you were to make it available, you can bet that Winn would be first in line to get it. And I don't think that's wise considering her track record. And if you were to morph and fight them, they'd think you were a changling and sound a planetwide alarm."

I nodded. "I'll keep it on the hush then. I'd rather they not mistake me for Odo or Okami."

Sisko really did laugh then. I grimaced. Major Kira rolled her eyes. "What's so funny about that?" I demanded.

"The way you said it." Major Kira chuckled.

"Do you know if the other Animorphs have gotten visions?" Sisko asked me.

"I think if they did, they would either have freaked out by now or thought they were going crazy." I told him. "Now Marco might keep something like that private. So would Rachel or Cassie. But Cassie usually can't hide anything from me and Rachel clearly hadn't heard anything. You can tell by her reac…"

**_FLASH!_**

White light, I was riding on Beemur, my pet horse back home. The Prophet had taken the form of Picard this time, and he was riding beside me. "The Kai is in trouble. The invaders seek revenge."

"Invaders? You mean the Cardassians? And you mean Kai Winn by the Kai."

The Picard/Prophet didn't answer my questions, typical. "The attack will not happen until two days after the Invader's leader reaches the gate. Hurry, the Emissary must guard her."

"You mean Sisko, so Sisko is supposed to deal with this? Not me?"

The Prophet didn't answer. He was looking past us. "Caught you red handed." Said a snide, smug voice behind me.

I turned. Q was hovering in the air, keeping up with us easily. "I think it's time this ended don't you?"

"Do not interfere. This is beyond you." The Prophet stated. Did I detect the merest tinge of annoyance? But it was too late…

**_FLASH_**

I was back in Kira's quarters. Q had a steadying hand on my shoulders. "Well, I finally managed to catch them in action."

"Q WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Major Kira demanded.

"The Wormhole Aliens came after her again and I stopped them." Q said smugly. "They aren't supposed to leave the Wormhole and every Q knows not to mess with a mortal child." He said, sniffing in offended dignity.

"GET OUT!" Major Kira shouted, "That could have been important Q! The Prophets do things for a REASON! And you spoiled it! They may not try to communicate with Feralae again and we may need her!"

"Major he was just doing what Q do." I said with a laugh. "Besides, you know what he's like. I think I got what we need though." He told her.

"See? No reason for her to go back. Now, I know when I'm not wanted. See you!" That last was sneered.

"Okay, what happened?" Major Kira demanded.

I told her what had happened. "But I don't think the strength of a vision is enough to hold out in Federation Court. So I think we should try to catch the perps red handed." I told them. "And I think it just became doubly important to spy on Dukat like we were planning. The hard part is going to be to catch them before they can hurt this Kai Winn of yours."

"Since when was she MY Winn?" Major Kira demanded.

"Odo can take care of it." Sisko said thoughtfully. "With Okami as back up, although I hesitate to burden either or them."

"I'll help. I can be a visible guard while Odo and Okami hide on her person somewhere, maybe a piece of jewelry or something." Major Kira suggested.

"If you guide her to the Rachel I can show her around, maybe keep her busy for a couple of hours, but that's it, because I doubt that the Kai would stoop to housework and that's what we'll need most. But I want confirmation that they might be trying it before I take this to the others. Jake may want to help. I'll ask him."

"I have a son named Jake." Sisko sighed, sitting down on the chair Kira had vacated. "He's nothing like yours. But I can imagine the confusion that will come up between the two of them when they meet." There was a long silence.

"Man, this is going to be hard. Which Cardassian? It may not necessarily be Dukat who attacks her. It might be somebody else, and if we let it out that the Prophets warned of a Cardassian attacking the Kai, every Bajoran on the planet is going to attack every Cardassian they see. They'll kill first, ask questions later. Should we keep this to ourselves?" I asked.

"For now." Sisko agreed. "Although I will warn Picard about it."

That was when Chief O'Brian's voice came over the communicator. "The Cardassian ships we found earlier are here Captain. They want to beam over and speak to Dukat."

"Tell them I'll be with them in a moment." Sisko turned to me. "Action stations."

I nodded. That was when the door chimed. Marco, Alloran, Okami, Cassie and Odo made their way in. "Ready?" I asked.

"We are." Marco agreed.

Major Kira crouched near the entryway to the ventilation shafts. "This is it." She pulled the grill off.

"Alloran, you will be keeping track of the time right?" I asked.

Yes, let us begin the morph.

I closed my eyes and focused on the picture of a bat. To be precise, the species was called a "Little Brown Myotis."

The first thing to change was my hands. They stretched and stretched and the webbing between the palms grew to change into a wing. My body became covered with soft brown hair. I began to shrink. "EW!" Major Kira stepped back. "I did not need to see that." You see, the morphing technology is never logical. I had a bat's body and a human's legs, full size human legs.

My ears shrank and slipped up the side of my head. The structure and form reminded me strongly of the Dominion created species calling themselves the Vorta. I growled, hurrying the changing of the ears, I HATED Vorta. They were so obnoxious. Then my legs began to shrink. A tail came out of my butt, tiny and with webbing attached to my legs.

Within one minute I was a bat. Odo and Okami had changed into squirrels. Okami was a red squirrel and Odo was a gray squirrel. Okami grabbed her communicator badge and followed us into the shafts. Marco in the lead, we shuffled our way towards the downshaft that would take us to Dukat's quarters. I heard footsteps as Sisko left Kira's quarters.

Which way Marco? I asked.

Down. He replied. We have to drop two decks and go halfway across the ship itself, but we can make it before those Cardassians get to Dukat.

I looked down at the black maw of the ventilation shafts. I fired a burst of echolocation down it. In the immortal words of Missy Elliot, 'HOOOODEEE HOOOOO! Run for cover mother fucker!' I cried as I dropped.

The wind rustled past me. I opened my wings, flapping downwards and fired another burst of echolocation. Which way? I cried as we reached the other deck.

Right! Marco shouted. Odo and Okami had gone semi liquid and were slithering along the side of the shaft. They followed us into the right shaft. This way. He flapped to the lead and we flew/ran as fast as we could for Dukat's quarters.

Another burst of echolocation. There was an exit. I saw several grates along the way. Wrong exit, ignore it. Marco said boredly. Alloran! Time?

We have been in morph for 15 minutes. Alloran commented. We will have plenty of time to listen.

I hope you're right! Cassie said as she struggled to keep up. Man, Tobias would HATE flying in these conditions.

Then we don't need to worry, because he's not here. I told her. Another junction coming up.

Keep going straight. Marco commented.

Uncle duncle! I told him. We flew until.

RIGHT! TAKE A RIGHT HERE! Marco said suddenly. We flew right and suddenly we were looking down the in-grill to Dukat's quarters on the Defiant.

Odo and Okami skidded to a halt and came up behind us. The Cardassians were just entering Dukat's quarters. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" Dukat asked. Okami clicked the specially modified combadge to record the message.

"Dukat, Gul, it's good to see you!" Said one of the two Cardassians.

That's a rank isn't it? Cassie asked.

Yes, Gul is the Cardassian equivalent of a Visser. Only there are more of them. I explained. He was in charge of Deep Space Nine back when it was called Terok Nor.

The two Cardassians shook hands and Dukat indicated that the other two sit down. "I'll be to the point Gul. It's time for Cardassia to take revenge for their embarrassing defeat at Bajor."

"I see, and how do you intend to affect this revenge?" Dukat asked, nonplussed.

"We will find the Bajoran Kai, and we will kill her." Said the other Cardassian.

"And how would you expect to get away after the murder?" Asked Dukat, I couldn't see too well behind the ventilation slats, but I could tell that he was annoyed.

"We will steal a runabout, but if that fails, we will be glad to die for our planet." Said the first Cardassian. "We need somebody to help us, somebody who will be able to get close to the Kai long enough to kill her."

"Sorry, but I know where this is going and it's not going to be me." Gul Dukat said calmly. "Bajor is OVER! DONE! Cardassia needs to stop living in the past and work on building a future! Furthermore, killing the Kai would serve no purpose whatsoever."

"You will be demoted Dukat." Said the other with a sneer. He unsheathed a knife and pressed it angrily to the Gul's throat. "You will lose all face and if that's not enough, we have an interesting piece of information about your past that will make very good reading in the Cardassian Tabloids!"

I wanted to throttle these two creeps. I wanted to morph lion and kill them both. But we needed them alive, and we needed evidence. I whispered to Dukat. Do not give up. Find a way out of this. You're not going to let these two creeps push you around are you?

If he heard me, he gave no sign. Dukat's eyes darted wildly around the room for a moment, then he focused on the knife at his throat. "Alright, alright I'll work with you."

Cassie growled. I'll kill him if the Bajorans don't.

He's being manipulated. That's all. I told her. Like the Hork Bajir. He is to be pitied.

Pity, right, look at him. He gives up that easily? I wouldn't have expected a Cardassian Gul to do something like that. Marco said.

Perhaps he has something in mind to take care of these two. Suggested Alloran. What is the human term? Up his sleeve?

"Here is the information you need. Meet us at the given rendezvous point on Deep Space Nine. I believe you know where they are." Said the leader of the two.

They left. The others flew or crawled away. Dukat said aloud. "Who's there?"

You may not know my name. I heard the conversation. No, you are not hearing things. I chuckled as he looked around, dumbfounded and then clapped his hands over his ears. I take it that the mighty Gul Dukat has something up his sleeve?

"No, for once I have nothing."

So double deal with them.

"And end up in the brig?"

You'll end up in Federation Prison if this goes through, that's much worse than a brig. I pointed out. No, don't try to find where I am. You won't find me unless I want to be found. Don't give up. Remember, you outrank them. YOU should be the one in control of this situation. We'll speak again Gul. I told him.

I flapped my way back the way I had come. After about five minutes I kept up with them and made it back to Major Kira's quarters. We demorphed. "He has nothing up his sleeve." I growled. "They're stringing him along, they're going to use him as a scapegoat and it's not even his fault!" I growled.

"Who?" Major Kira asked.

Marco explained.

"It's not fair!" I protested. "They're going to use him as a scapegoat, mark my words."

"I think you'd better hear this Major." Said Okami as she replayed the conversation.

"Feralae, you were right." Major Kira breathed.

"Right about what?" Asked Cassie.

I told them about the vision. "And then Q hauled me out of it before I could get any more out of him." I explained.

I repined my combadge and it chirped. "Deanna to Feralae. It's going to happen soon."

She didn't have to say what. We all knew. "Well, I think it's time we cross our fingers and hope for the best." I stood and stretched. "And we'll have to report in to Jake."

"I'll do it." Marco told us. "You're closer to Rachel than I am."

So we headed back to the Enterprise, for a game of waiting more trying than any form of espionage.


	11. Rachel Breaks Out in Spots, Literally

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

Notes: ((Symbiont speaking to Rachel.))

))Rachel speaking to Symbiont((

**_Chapter 9- Feralae _**

**_(Chapter known also as "Rachel Breaks out in Spots, Literally!")_**

I waited in the small room off of sickbay. The other Animorphs were with me. Tobias was pacing. Dax watched us, talking quietly with Counselor Troi. I played on my harmonica, Cassie smiled, singing softly, _"And if you want me to come with you, then that's alright with me, cause I been goin' nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to be."_ It was one of our songs, and I found the melody and the lyrics comforting when something happened.

The tension was so palpable in the air you could cut it with a knife. Tobias was the most pissed. He was afraid of losing Rachel again. Suddenly he said, "I'm going with you." He told Dax.

"You'd have to get permission." Dax pointed out.

"Permission be damned. I care about Rachel and I'm not about to lose her again."

Cassie listened, still singing. _"And I wish that you'd come with me, when I leave for home, cause we both know all about loneliness and living on our own. And the little man, looked at the empty glass in his hand, and he smiled a crooked grin, he said 'I guess I'm out of gin, and I know we both have been, so lonely, and if you want me to come with you, then that's alright with me, cause I know I'm going nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to…"_

"SHUT UP!" Tobias growled. "Just shut UP! Rachel could be walking right into death a SECOND time right now and you're SINGING?"

"It's not a deathtrap Tobias." Dax told him, miffed. "Being joined is an honor, and only one human has ever done it."

"Tobias unless you want to offend a senior crewman of the Defiant I'd suggest that you shut up RIGHT NOW!" Erika growled. She took a long sip of root beer. Guinan had given the Animorphs a bottle each to drink while we wait. She'd served Dax and Deanna as well. "The Trill aren't yeerks! You have to remember that!"

Tobias sank into his chair. "Sorry… I… I just… I lost Rachel once, and if something goes wrong I'll never forgive myself."

Jake shook his head. "Tobias, you don't think I feel guilty too?"

"Shut up Jake! You were the reason why Rachel died in the first place." Tobias growled.

Jake looked like he'd been slapped.

"Tobias take that back!" I snapped. "You think Jake doesn't know that? Doesn't regret that with all his heart and soul? He could have captured Tom and starved the Yeerk out, but there was no way to get onto the Pool Ship without his Yeerk, and he would have turned on us."

"And we had to get on to save Feralae from…" Craig smacked a hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry Feralae. I didn't mean to bring that incident up."

I sighed. "That's okay Craig."

"Nice work Craig." Erika said, rolling her eyes. Erika had been deafened in an accident. The Morph technology had healed her wounds and made her able to hear again. It was almost ironic that she had been asked to stay with an El-Aurian 'listener' like Guinan. Erika had a sort of a serene personality, and a mystical outlook on life that gave her a good grasp of timewarps such as Sario Rips and Time Paradoxes. It was not as good as Cassie's natural tendency to break up alternate universes, but close.

"You know what this whole episode reminds me of?" I asked. "Remember that old song 'Sniper' by Harry Chapin?"

"How could we not?" Marco asked, rolling his eyes. "With you Chapin CRAZY all the time."

"Well it reminds me sort of, of the line at the end, _'I was, I am, and now, I will be.'_"

"Zia is actually a young Symbiont." Dax said. "I looked up the records. Zia's only had two hosts before this. Most of the joined that I've met have four or five lifetimes under their belt."

"Then Rachel makes number four right?" I asked.

"But Zia won't be staying with Rachel, not permanently." Jadzia pointed out. "So I'm not sure if she counts."

"Okay, three then." I pointed out.

The door opened, and the nurse poked her head in. "It's done, Dr. Crusher just has to clean Rachel up a bit."

"FINALLY!" Tobias shoved angrily past her. "And once they make it back from Trill I'm going to tell her that if she ever pulls a stunt like that on me again I'll…"

&&&Rachel&&&

It was dark. But I still felt Zia making contact, felt the rush of memories. INCREDIBLE!

The Symbiont chuckled into my mind. ((Thank you for giving yourself to me Rachel.))

I sighed, ))You're welcome. This is going to be some adventure huh?((

((You bet it will.))

I felt so serene, so calm that it was odd. I never felt a sense of peace until, until my death. And now that I had been revived, I didn't fear death as much as I used to. I smiled sadly. ))_'And the look on her face as she opened the door, was like an old joke told by a friend. It took ten long years, but she found her smile, and I watched the corners start to bend'((_ I quoted.

((I beg your pardon?)) Zia asked.

))Feralae, a friend of mine, she quotes this old singer all the time. One of his songs, 'Sequel' is about dreams. The woman in the song, Sue, gave up her dream of being an actress, and when she did she felt so peaceful. I ended up dying once, and strangely, I don't fear death anymore. When I was revived on the Enterprise I felt just as peaceful and serene as Sue did.((

((Yes, I see your memories now. You were very brave.)) Zia commented. ((I do not fear death either, having experienced it during my hosts' lifetimes. I don't like it, but I do not fear it.))

And with that a future friendship was cemented, provided that we both survived the journey back to Trill of course.

Our eyes slowly opened. The other Animorphs were waiting. "Hey, some party this is huh?" Zia asked, with a small smile. "You guys all look like somebody died. Did I break out in spots or something?"

Dax laughed. "Zia you have such a sense of humor!"

"Thanks Luitenant." She sighed.

"BAD joke." Stated Marco. "VERY bad joke."

"Right, Zia as soon as you're able we need to get going." Tobias told me. "I got permission to come with you to Trill."

oh great. Tobias couldn't have a prejudice against the trill could he? Or was he just being over protective of me?

((I can't tell, I'm not a telepath.)) Zia pointed out. "Well," Zia said as she sat up. "We'd better get going…"

Dr. Crusher scanned us. "I think you'd better be off your feet for a bit. I'll arrange a site to site transport to the runabout you, Dax and Tobias are to use." She pulled back a bit, talking to somebody on the communicator.

Sure enough, the warning came via the communicator. "Site to site transport prepared."

Dax replied for us. "Energize."

The world faded out around Zia and me.

Dax powered up the little ship and began the preflight checklist. "Ready to go you two?" She asked.

"You bet!" We chorused.


	12. Feralae becomes the leader

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 10- Feralae _**

I watched the runabout go. "Good luck." I whispered.

"They don't need luck." Counselor Troi said. "They have Dax keeping an eye on them. I've heard rumors about her competence. They'll be just fine."

"And they have Rachel on board." Marco grinned. "As long as Zia doesn't let her say, 'Let's do it' they won't jinx themselves."

James laughed. "Marco, can you cut with the bad jokes?" Asked Craig. "No offense, but this is a serious situation. One wrong move and they could end up dead, both of them. And what if something goes wrong and they don't make it? There are so many things that could go wrong here."

"Yeah, I know, but wasn't it Monty Python who once said, 'Look on the bright side of life?' Humor as coping mechanism." Marco explained.

"Right, we'd better go." I nodded. I was already digging through the data pad that I usually carried with me. "I wanna get a jump on…"

"You and your lessons." Cassie growled, scooping the pad up out of my hands.

"HEY!" I cried as I found my pad snatched away.

"You and I are going to the holodeck. We are going to morph and fly for an hour or two. It's about time we stretched our wings. Besides, I wanna get in shape so that when we get to Bajor we can do some serious flying." Cassie said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around my waist. I could almost feel her love. Wait a minute! I was feeling her love, all up and down our precious link. Well, we could take the time to renew it. The bond had been slowly fading over the past several days, probably the doing of those damn wormhole folk.

Counselor Troi chuckled. "Alright, go on then. I'll see you two later." We walked out of the observation deck on the launch bay.

Cassie called up the Pacific Northwest landscape that Riker had shown us. Cassie smirked, pushing me down gently onto the thick moss. "It's been awhile since we could do this." She whispered, her voice husky in my ear.

"Then let's keep it on the hush." I whispered back as she leaned in to kiss me.

We lost ourselves in each other for awhile, and after about half an hour, with the moss cooling my sweaty back Cassie sighed and sat up. "I think we should really go flying for awhile. That way we can uh… make good on our alibi."

"Fine with me." I said as we dressed. I could feel Cassie's thoughts again, as strong as the bond was even a year ago.

We morphed and flew a tangled pattern through the sky. Until the alarm went off for the hour and a half mark we forgot about the fact that this was a simulation.

I never slept so soundly that night. I was woken up by the sound of the morning tea pot clinking against a tea cup. "Hnnng…" I groaned. I smelled the hot beverage and my stomach growled.

I got up, went to the bathroom to shower and dress, and met the captain at the kitchen table. Breakfast was some kind of hot pastry, probably French cuisine. "Good morning, sleep well?"

"Yeah, and I could really murder for some cocoa." I growled as I made my way to the replicator. "Hot chocolate with whipped cream, hot." The morning nectar that I'd drank every day since the end of the war appeared and I carried it over to the table.

"We'll be reaching Bajor sometime this evening." Picard told me. "I hope you can keep busy until then."

"I'll keep plenty busy." I said with a smile as I nipped the tip of the cream from the cocoa with a spoon. I took the bite and savored the sugar.

"Major Kira sent over some lessons on Bajoran language for you. They should be waiting on your data pad." Captain Picard said calmly. "She said that if you're going to know the Prophets you'd better speak their language." He chuckled at that.

I worked my way through the hot chocolate and three plates of the pastry that Picard had replicated for breakfast. After clearing the table I followed the captain up to the bridge.

Cassie was waiting for me. "Hey, what's up?"

"The usual, breakfast, then lessons."

"Look, Jake wanted to speak to you Feralae, you and the counselor."

I groaned. Had the counselor complained to Jake about me blowing her off the other day?

_I have NO idea. I'm not the telepath. _Cassie pointed out. I stared at her in surprise. _I think it's long been established that you are one Feralae. You just haven't told anybody. _

_Yeah, I haven't. But I'm willing to bet Troi's figured it out ages ago. _I told her. _Koibito this doesn't bode well at all. _

_No it doesn't. I think Jake's beginning to crack. _Cassie pointed out. _Don't get angry at him. He doesn't know how to cope with this sort of thing. _

_What makes you think I know?_ I asked as we slipped into the conference room.

"Hey Jake, what's up? I haven't gotten to see much of you lately, what with us at opposite ends of the ship." I said with a cocky grin.

Jake sighed. "Sit down. I've asked Counselor Troi to witness this for us." I sat, and there was a long pause. "Feralae, I want to step down as leader of the Animorphs."

"WHAT?" I demanded, eyes round in shock. "You can't! Jake you're the leader, none of the others are able to lead!"

"You are, Feralae you're the only other one of us who can lead. You adapt so quickly it's amazing. You have a good grasp of Andilite law, so you'll know how to deal with Starfleet if they demand Andilite technology. You have experience dealing with other races. You're creative enough to get us out of trouble. I may have brought down an Empire, but you built one. All I need to do is call a meeting and make it official."

Adapt quickly? Yeah right! True, I knew Andilite law backwards and forwards thanks to dad, but that meant nothing. Yes, I was the one who had started the United Animorphs Alliance and brought everyone together in one heart.

"Jake couldn't one of the others?" I asked.

"No, I've thought about it. Tobias doesn't have the creativity. Marco has the creativity, but he can be just as ruthless as Rachel in his own way, and that's not the kind of leader I want. Cassie would buckle under the stress, never do anything, we'd be a doormat for any species that wanted the morphing power. Rachel doesn't have the mentality, remember the Garatron Incident? She gets too arrogant. James, Craig, and Erika don't have the experience. I've already talked to Ax and Alloran, they've decided that since the Animorphs are a human creation, that humans should lead them."

That only left me. That only left me! I couldn't lead the Animorphs! That was too much! "Jake…" I begged.

"Please Feralae… I can't do it anymore. Not after I sent Rachel to kill Tom. Not after I bombed the Yeerk pool. Not after I sent James and his people to die. Not after finding Merika's body like that. I can't take it anymore."

Cassie was right about me being a Telepath, because his anguish was so keen I could feel it across the room. "Jake…I… I don't know if I can do it…"

"You have to Feralae! You're the only other one of us fit for command!"

"And what will you do now that you're abandoning us?" I demanded coldly.

That hit him like a slap to the face. But I wanted him to see what it would seem like to the rest of us. "I… I don't know… I was hoping I could join Starfleet Medical… be a doctor like my dad… make him proud of his son, not the murderer who killed all those yeerks, who sent his cousin to die killing his brother. Do you know what that's done to me Feralae? To have my cousin back but not my brother. I couldn't save him!" Tears were streaming from his eyes. He was trapped. Jake didn't want to let us down, but he also didn't want to keep going like this.

"Relax Jake. Just take a day or two off, maybe a month, you'll feel better in a couple of weeks of no stress…"

"NO!" Jake cried. "I want out! I want out of command! I can't do this anymore Feralae… Just take it all away…"

"Jake, you're not the only one who's lost loved ones in that war. Who was Merika's daughter? Who had to fight her yeerk overlord to the death, no morphing, no speed healing. There was nothing I could do, except watch her die! She took control of Visser One and threw herself on my sword! Do you know how sickening that feels?" I asked, flushing. I never talked about that incident. "You're not the only one with issues Jake. What makes you think that you have the right to just go and quit?"

"I have EVERY right to just go and quit!" Jake snarled. "I lead the team time and again! I made decision after decision to kill and risk death and I just don't want the stress anymore!"

Councilor Troi moved to speak. I shook my head. "Councilor he can't leave. Not now. When the Admirals descend on Deep Space Nine or the Enterprise to take our morphing powers, powers that they could never truly understand, who is going to face up to them?"

"You are!" Jake growled. "Because at the next meeting I'm going to step down, and the next meeting is after lunch. Feralae, you can either take up command of the Animorphs or you can leave us leaderless."

"You can't just run away from this!" I protested. "None of us can! From the moment we woke up in this dimension our destiny was decided for us!"

"Destiny, bitter, nasty word. Well forget destiny. She can go suck a dick." Jake growled.

"Jake language!" Deanna and I chorused.

"Look, Jake, why don't you come down to my quarters and we can talk about this." Deanna replied.

"NO!" Jake snapped. "I will not be talked out of my decision."

"We'll vote on a new leader." I told him. "I will not lead. I don't want to any more than you do." Jake looked at me, this empty, haunted look.

I spent the morning working on the language lesson that Major Kira had set for me. But my heart wasn't in it. Lunch came and went. The other Animorphs filed in.

Jake sat next to Picard in the meeting. The only officers at the meeting were the captain, the councilor, and Commander Riker. "I've already discussed this with Feralae and Councilor Troi." Jake said, standing to speak. "I'm stepping down as leader of the Animorphs. I'm putting Feralae in charge."

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Marco demanded. James and Craig were right onhis heals.

But Erika shook her head. "Okay, then who's the leader?"

"I want Feralae to lead, but she doesn't seem to want to." Jake told us.

"That's right." I told them.

"Why not?" Picard asked. "I think you'd make a great leader."

"It's not a matter of how good I'd be, it's the fact that I don't want everything to rest on me."

"The problem." Marco stated. "Is that each of us has a major psychological flaw that would prevent us from being a good leader in the long run." He sighed. "Like me for example, I'm good at seeing the best line from A to B, but when I get down to it I forget morality for the sake of 'will it work.' And Cassie's exactly the opposite. She'd forsake, 'Will it work' for morality."

"And Tobias doesn't have the personality for it." Cassie pointed out. "He made that clear the very first day that he doesn't want to lead."

I have already spoken about this with Jake. Neither Alloran or I shall lead. Ax stated. And we shall abide by the decisions of the others. This is a human matter. Ax said calmly.

"What about Rachel?" Riker asked, curious.

"Rachel has proven that she can't lead." Jake pointed out. "There was an incident where I had to go out of town for a week or so. In the battle that happened after I was gone, Rachel made a huge mistake, twice. She ordered us to go in all as the same animal. First as Cheetahs, and we made it out alive. But the second time she had us morph polar bears, and Cassie was nearly trapped in morph and infested." Jake explained. "Too much."

Riker nodded, taking in the incident. "Some people just aren't born to it." Picard said with a sigh.

"What about James, Craig or Erika?" Riker asked.

"Yeah, what about us?" Erika asked.

"I don't think you three have the experience, but if you want to put it to a vote…" Jake said.

"SAY WHAT?" James demanded. "Jake I thought you knew us better than that! Who were the ones who did all the grunt work? The three of us led groups of ten Animorphs each, way more than you EVER did! And we came out with what… two casualties? Only two dead up until the final battle."

"And then you lost everyone." Marco pointed out.

"Thanks to Jake we did!" Craig pointed out. "It was necessary to victory, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't stink like a skunk with a cucumber up his…"

"Language Craig!" Erika growled.

The tension in the room was enough to choke a… well… a really tense thing. I wasn't going to let this go. "Let James lead then, if he's so eager to."

"If we put this to a vote I know EXACTLY how this will go." Erika argued. "The three of us will each vote for ourselves and everybody else will vote for Feralae. I'm sorry, but in this situation putting the matter to a vote won't work."

Jake nodded. "Which is why I wanted Feralae in charge."

"Alright! FINE! You can put me in charge! I won't like it, but I'll do it." I growled.

Marco applauded. "Hurray for Feralae!"

"Ah, the drama, the tension!" Proclaimed Q from where he lounged on the table. He sat up and took the chair next to Ax. "I LEAVE YOU FOR ONE LOUSY DAY AND YOU MESS THINGS UP!" He cried, practically freaking out.

"Q, get out!" Picard yelled.

"BUT JAKE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE LEADER!" He whined. "Feralae's got enough on her plate!"

"Q, somehow I can't shake the feeling that you're following our actions the way my aunt follows soap operas." Marco said, rolling his eyes.

"My mind's made up." Jake replied. "She's a lot smarter than I am."

"Feralae can also be incredibly naïve." Q replied. "I think you're making a mistake, but hey, I'm only omnipotent, what do _I_ know?" And he disappeared.

"Jake, take over if you suddenly regret it." Feralae told him. "You can take command any time."

Jake nodded. "I won't, but thank you."

And with that I became leader of our merry band.


	13. The Battle of Voyager Begins

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Part Two- Voyager and Beyond _**

Notes: I need help spelling the word Batleth. If anybody knows how I'd love to hear it.

Q: Too bad we don't have a Star Trek dictionary/who's who.

We'll just have to do without.

**_Chapter 11- Feralae _**

That evening, shortly before dinner we dropped out of warp at the edge of the Bajoran System. I stood next to what Cassie had taken to calling, "The three chairs" and watched as the communiqué came in from the Defiant. "Welcome to the Bajoran System Captain." Sisko said with a smile.

"Thank you for welcoming us captain." Said Picard with a small, slight smile.

"So far there's no sign of trouble, but you told us that Q was on the prowl. I think we should be on our guard." Sisko told the older man.

"I agree. Proceed at warp…."

The shockwave resounded through the nearby space and hit the Enterprise with a BOOM! "What the hell?" Riker demanded.

Data's fingers flew over his controls. "Captain, a Transwarp conduit is opening at 5,000 kilometers away from the ship."

"Get us out of the way!" Picard shouted. Then, thoughtfully, "It doesn't seem like the Borg."

"It's not! LOOK!" Deanna pointed. Her hands flew to her mouth as a ship emerged from the opening, careening out of control. A bullet shaped saucer, two nacelles, it was a Federation ship!

"They're out of control captain." Data warned.

"Use a tractor beam to catch them. Is there anybody alive on that ship?" Picard asked. He and Sisko had cut off visual.

"Allow me to help." Sisko agreed via audio.

Two tractor beams reached out and caught the tiny ship. "Can you identify it?" Picard asked.

Data tapped at his console. "According to the registration number… captain you're not going to believe this. It's Voyager."

"Captain, remember when Q said awhile back that he had business in the Delta Quadrant? Do you think he was setting this up?" I asked.

"I'm almost sure of it."

"For once the bugger did something useful." Riker said with a grin.

"It would seem like everyone is alive." Data commented from his console. "However, there are fifty non-humanoid lifesigns."

Deanna's eyes fluttered closed as she reached out to the ship. "Captain, there's something malevolent loose on that ship. I'm not sure what, but it certainly means their crew harm."

"Hail them." Picard ordered.

"They are not responding to the hail." Data commented.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Cassie shook her head.

"Shall we send an away team?" Asked Worf.

"I'll go." I commented.

"Try hailing again." Picard told them.

"No response." Data said calmly. "It is as if they were jammed."

"We need to send somebody over there." Worf warned. "Captain, I'll gladly lead an away team."

"Captain let us do it." I said, speaking up. "Voyager made a ton of enemies in the Delta Quadrant. One of them might have attacked the ship just before it went into Transwarp. Our morphing power will heal any injury we get in battle."

Captain Picard thought for a moment. "I think I will send you, and the other Animorphs. After that we'll wait fifteen minutes and then send Worf, Data, Riker and Dr. Crusher over as an away team."

I nodded. "I'll call the others together."

About fifteen minutes later the other Animorphs and I gathered in Transporter room 2. "You realize that this is insane right?" Marco asked.

"Yes, this is perfectly insane." I replied patiently.

"I mean, this whole adventure is insane." Marco stated as he slipped off his boots. "We're stuck in the Star Trek Universe. We've spent four days living on the Enterprise. We're on our way to Bajor for a few weeks while Spock and Captain Picard mediate a conflict between two species that should never leave a TV and now we're going on an away mission to the Voyager, which isn't responding to our hails and might have been captured by unknown alien monsters."

"Marco, just quit complaining." I said as we stepped onto the transporter pad. "I know it's insane, but it's right in front of us, it has to be done, and we're going to do it. Because if we don't clear the way the Away Team may end up seriously injured or dead."

"WE might end up seriously injured or dead." Marco pointed out.

"You think I haven't thought of that? But our morphing powers can heal our own injuries, while an injury to one of the crew would mean that they'd have to be hauled back to sickbay." I explained as our first wave of attack stepped onto the transporter pad.

The beam picked up the first five of us, me, Marco, Jake, Cassie and Ax. The room faded out around us and we were on Voyager's bridge. About five seconds later James, Craig, Erika and Alloran appeared behind us. I took another five seconds to survey the scene.

Voyager's bridge crew was hemmed in by a forcefield. At their stations instead was a monster that reminded me somewhat of a hork bajir, and somewhat of an alien from the Alien movies. "You are unwanted." Said the leader of the monsters. "Leave, now."

"Well excuse me Mr. Monster, but Captain Picard sent us over to find out why Voyager isn't responding to our hails. So you'll excuse us if we don't pack up and leave." I said, walking over to the monster and raising mychin belligerently.

The monster laughed. "Get out of here!" Said a woman in command red that I guessed was Captain Janeway. "They'll kill you! Their claws are poisonous!"

The creature jabbed out with a claw, aiming for my face. The claw stopped an inch from my face, a feint. "You are brave." The enemy stated. "But I shall not be deviated."

"Your funeral." I said with an almost malicious smirk. "Of course, if I were you, I'd just leave, NOW." I emphasized the now.

The monster jabbed at me, this one meant to kill. I ducked to the side. He threw another punch, I ducked to the other side. This pattern kept going like some kind of obscene dance around the bridge. Each blow that he threw and that I dodged was faster than the human eye could track. He growled in frustration.

Finally, we were back where we started. I was starting to get annoyed. I said calmly to Mr. Monster. "I'll give you thirty seconds before we tear you apart." I said calmly. "Ax, keep track of the time, starting… now. Meanwhile, everybody morph and be ready to fight." I threw my cape to the ground with a swishing noise and stepped out of my boots. Then I closed my eyes and focused on my favorite battle morph.

"She's thrown down the gauntlet." Marco said, rolling his eyes. "Feralae, could you be any more dramatic?"

I laughed. The white lion known as Leroy Brown to the Garden's staff had been my battle companion, as well as my symbol, for years. I felt the morph take hold. I controlled the process, head, arm, arm, body, leg, leg, tail. I morphed faster than any of the others, except for Cassie.

Ten seconds left. Ax stated.

I looked behind me at the others. Cassie had become a snarling wolf. Jake was a massive tiger, three hundred fifty pounds of striped, clawed, fanged death. Marco finished off morphing his gorilla, with massive fists as big as whole hams. Ax had remained Ax, and Alloran was Alloran. Their Andilite speed, tailblade, and ability to see in all directions made them formidable enough. James was also a lion, just not a white one. His golden mane was streaked through with black and dark brown, he yawned, as if bored, but the yawn was calculated to expose the huge fangs and sharp claws of a lion. Craig snarled, his love of speed tactics had prompted him to choose a cheetah morph. Erika, with all her love of mystery, usually alternated between an andilite, a hork bajir, and a sleek black panther. In this case, she was a panther, suave, black and deadly, with cold, green, slitted eyes. We were over a ton of muscle and claw and teeth and blade, and we were ready to rumble, nine of the deadliest animals ever to walk on good old Terra Mater.

The thirty seconds have elapsed Ax stated.

Do you still wish to fight? I asked them.

"GET THEM!" The leader growled. I leapt forward, claws and teeth bared, with a roar that made the deck shudder. Suddenly the creature winked out. Less than a second later I felt a punch hit my shoulder like a sledgehammer. I flew across the deck and slammed into the captain's chair.

I used the momentum to bounce off the bulkhead and leap at the creature, which had just become visible. That was when I realized that the captain was calling to us. "They're called Species 8472! Their claws rot wounds! Don't let them cut you! They can turn invisible! LOOK OUT!" She cried as the creature turned invisible again.

I leapt upward. Let me tell you, lions can leap up to 40 feet in any direction. In training during the war I had taken a couple hours to practice and measure. Good old Leroy Brown, my best morph, could leap fifty. I landed on the back of the leader and began clawing at his neck. His body was armored, with leathery skin very much like a hork bajir. But there was a weak point at the neck. The bones were weak. The leader thrashed, but I had my grip.

One of the best tactics when in a big cat morph was to try and break the opponents trachea. That kept them from breathing and they suffocated. I growled, sinking my teeth into his neck and shaking my head. The leader hardly seemed affected. He reached up, grabbed me, and swung me away, flying into the bulkhead at the opposite end of the bridge, just beneath the view screen. "That won't work." The leader of Species 8472 told me smugly. "We don't need air the way you do. We can survive without air, even in the blackness of space."

Now he tells me. The creature turned fully and leapt forward. The slash and the pain from it hissed from left to right across my chest. FERALAE! Cassie cried. She ducked the next blow with all the speed of the wolf.

I had to demorph. The wound was rotting my insides. I used the last of my strength to leap under the divider between the upper and lower halves of the bridge and demorphed. The creature stuck his claws underneath, trying to cut me in my normal form. The poison was gone, but my head was hammering. I growled, snatching at the claw and yanking on him. The creature hit his head on the panel and in that instant I focused on the one thing that could save my life. I focused on acquiring the DNA of my enemy, of Species 8472. I'd practice later, but right then I needed my next best morph. I focused with all my might on a single image. The image of an andilite. I crawled out from under the center panel.

The leader of the 8472 was staggering from hitting his head on the panel above my hiding place. I planted a kick in his gut. He got his bearings and tried to slash at me. But andilite instinct kicked in. I jerked out of the way of the blow. He fired another slash. I ducked. The two of us looked like something out of a Dragon Ball Z cartoon, a blur of fists and claws.

But my hands were sprouting fingers and my arms becoming weak. My feet were becoming hooves and a new pair of legs sprouted from my chest. I was turning blue all over. SPLOOT! Stalk eyes emerged, allowing me to see and focus on the entire battle. Lastly, the tail appeared, the blade was enormous. My andilite morph was based on the DNA from Ax, Alloran, Ax's girlfriend Estrid, Ax's little sister Ezimili, the chronically ill, but incredibly powerfully built Gafinilon, and the Vecol Mertil. I had Gafinilon's muscles and tail blade. Estrid's speed and grace. Ezimili's long eye stalks, and Ax's good looks. The rest was internal, three hearts instead of one, bigger lungs, stronger muscles. I was in the form of my ancestors. I would do them honor in this battle.

Cassie look out! I cried. Craig behind you! Jake! Duck left, duck left now!

Craig and Cassie were in real trouble. Both of their morphs relied on biting, and Species 8472 seemed especially immune to that. Slashing or muscles seemed to be the better move. As I watched, Marco fired a punch and one of the monsters went down with a BOOM! You guys, fall back and cover Cassie and Craig while they morph. Craig, go Hork Bajir. Cassie Polar bear. Do it!

They remorphed and Alloran ducked to one of the control panels I am putting up the shields. I don't think the away team should beam down into the middle of this.

I don't think they should either. I told Alloran.

My opponent came after me again. I smirked evilly. You die, here and now. I told him.

"No, you will die." He slashed out at my shoulder. The wound screamed with pain, another blow, to my right front leg. I slashed at him. FWAP FWAP FWAP! I hit a slashing blow to his arm, neck and the top of his head.

The leader fell, his body in pieces, literally. I limped back to the control panel. I focused bleary eyes on the panel. When I release you, you will go and hide in the conference room of your ship. You will not come out until Jake or I sound the all clear.

"We don't run and hide from a battle." The Captain said, lifting her chin proudly.

Suit yourself. I said as the forcefield came down.

The other crewmen and women ran for their phasers. I staggered. The captain herself caught me. "You're hurt badly. We can help you."

Gotta demorph. I muttered. That will heal my wounds totally, and drain the poison from my body. I focused, holding the image as long as I could. The morphing technology took hold until I fell too my knees on the deck. This was embarrassing. My first mission as the leader and I end up the first one out.

Cassie ducked in next to us. _I'm here koi_.

_Thank you._ I whispered. I was weak, and I was alive, but I was human, as human as a part Andilite could be at least.

I leaned back against the bulkhead as my head swam. Captain Janeway clicked her communicator. "Doctor we've got injuries up here. Bring your medkit and some of that nanite antibody!"

"On my way Captain. I just hope I don't run into any 8472." Came the reply.

"I can manage." I said as I tried to stand.

"No, I don't think you can. Stay down." Said the captain. "Tuvok, prepare security teams to go down."

"Alloran, lower the shields to let the away team in." I told him.

Yes Feralae. Alloran moved to the control panel. Enterprise, this is Alloran, can you hear me? Enterprise come in. Enterprise!

"No good." Marco said as he bent over the communications panel. "Somebody's still blocking our communications."

A woman with the facial ridges of a klingon shook her head. "They took over engineering. They must be blocking us from there." She wore the mustard colored uniform of an engineer.

I sighed, rubbing my aching head. I felt like I'd gotten a hangover, only my arms and legs ached as well. "Maybe you can tell us what happened." I said, looking up at the captain.

"We were trying to slip into the Borg's transwarp conduits without being noticed. Species 8472 found us and sent aboard about fifty of their numbers. They imprisoned all of my senior and bridge crew behind that forcefield you saw. They made it out of some kind of portable unit." The captain explained.

I looked up at Jake. "That's eleven for each of us to take down."

He nodded. "I can count."

"I could really use your advice right now." I told him, pointedly.

"My advice is fight the best you can, team up with the locals, and hope that we make it out of this alive." Jake told me.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, LEADER." I placed an angry emphasis on the word.

"You're welcome, LEADER." Jake said pointedly. "Feralae you need to learn how to handle authority, and right now even I don't have a solution."

"Great." I growled. "Better and better."

The door to the turbolift opened. "Captain." An EMH came through, with an odd device on his shoulder. "I just barely made it. There were three of them after me. I could have sworn that they'd posted themselves just outside of sickbay."

She nodded. "Glad you could make it doctor."

"I'm fine." I complained. "I just have a headache. Morphing technology heals wounds and drains poisons from its user."

The EMH wasn't impressed. He crouched down in front of me and scanned. "There are trace elements of the poison from Species 8472 in your blood. I'd suggest that you rest." He turned to the captain and the two of them were about to talk when the transporter beams from two away teams arrived. From the Enterprise came Riker, Dr. Crusher, Worf and Data. From the Defiant came Kira, Dr. Bashir and Odo.

"Is everybody alright?" Riker was the first to speak.

"Mostly." The Captain replied. "I'm Captain Janeway of Voyager."

Introductions were made all around. I made note of who was who on Janeway's crew, since I already knew the others. The EMH that had tended me was referred to simply as The Doctor. His assistant was the 'humanized' borg named Seven of Nine. The Security Chief was a Vulcan named Tuvok. The first officer was a former Maquis named Chakotay. In charge of engineering was the Klingon I had noticed earlier named B'Elanna. The pilot was a charming, impudent man named Tom Paris. There also were Ensign Harry Kim and a member of a species called the Talaxians named Nelix. Together the eight of them had managed to guide the ship through the Delta Quadrant, to the point where they'd entered the Transwarp Conduit, evaded the Borg, and had their ship hijacked by Species 8472.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was preparing some kind of injection. "Whatcha got there?" Asked Dr. Bashir.

"The only antidote that we know for the poison from Species 8472 is a specially created variation on Borg Nanites," Explained the Doctor. "They act almost as antibodies would for a fever, filtering out and destroying the poison. Our version eventually filters out of the body without causing any harm. Seven and I programmed them. They're quite useful. I'm preparing a light dose."

"Shouldn't cause a problem with the morphing technology." I muttered, going over my father's equations in my head. No, because the capsules that held the DNA for morphing were almost nanites in themselves, simple microscopic capsules that divided in the bloodstream like actual cells, created from the food that the morpher eats.

"The what?" The doctor asked.

"You weren't up here." I told him with a soft smile. "Morphing technology was created by my Andilite father, Escafil. He was trapped on Earth in a human form later. The Technology enables its user to acquire the DNA of any animal they can gain access to and then morph that animal for two hours. The DNA is encapsulated in the blood steam. After two hours though, I'd be trapped."

"I made the mistake of sedating her in mid morph." Dr. Bashir said with a chuckle. "She told me that if that ever happened again to…"

"Hunt down a nice, big ass syringe of adrenaline and jab it into me." I finished. "Because the most important thing was to get me out of the morph."

The Doctor snorted. He held out the hypospray and pressed it to my neck. After about thirty seconds the pain in my head and muscles eased. "Thanks. Now, let's take the plunge and see how those nanites affect my powers." I said and closed my eyes, focusing on my favorite bird of prey morph, the Harris Hawk.

As my arms stretched into wings and my head shrank, (followed by the rest of me) I felt no pain. That was a sign as to how well made they were. Whatever these Nanites were, they were small enough to be morphed with no problem. I demorphed. "No problems. Doctor how soon can I get up? There's a battle to be fought."

"As soon as your headache goes away." He told me. "But go easy on it."

Data was clattering away at the keyboard. "I am trying to get through the communications block. So far no success, this Species 8472 is blocking me out from Engineering."

"Keep trying Data." Riker told him.

May I help? Alloran asked.

"Certainly." Data moved aside.

I believe that if we adjust this code by a margin of 1.27684 times we should be able to override. Alloran said as he typed.

The computer bleeped. It is not accepting the program that I fed it.

Odo, Tuvok and Worf were discussing tactics. Worf had brought his batleth with him. "Whatever happens we will have to take the ship back deck by deck." Worf was saying.

"That will be difficult without back up." Odo said with a sigh. "We won't be able to call on reinforcements from the station or the Enterprise."

I walked over to where the other Animorphs were clustered. "Okay, I made a major observation about how these creatures fight, and I've found that morphs that rely on biting are too weak. That means that wolves and cheetahs are out. But I think that anything with blades, claws or fists might be able to do major damage. Don't do birds of prey, they're useless here." I noticed Captain Janeway making her way over to us. "I think I'd recommend Morphs like the Gorilla or the Polar Bear or the Cape Buffalo for their sheer smashing power. Hork Bajir and Andilite Morphs would be useful as well. Their speed and blades make them ideal for serious hacking. I don't think we have the time to experiment with poison morphs like scorpions or snakes."

"More's the pity, since poisonous snakes are even faster than either Andilites or Garatron." Craig supplied.

"It wouldn't work anyway." Janeway put in. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Species 8472 is immune to most poisons."

"Do we have to keep calling them that?" Asked Cassie. "It seems obscene to me to refer to a species by a number."

"That's what the Borg call them." Seven put in. "And we never got the chance to be polite and ask."

I sighed. "We don't have time to fight over this. I also noticed that Big Cat morphs have a slight disadvantage because they rely both on claws and on teeth for their fighting."

"But Big Cat morphs are the bread and butter of our tactics." Complained Erika. "And if we want to try not to repeat morphs…"

"I know, we're at a tactical disadvantage." I told them. "Listen, I acquired one of them. We could try using me as bait while the others lie in wait in the Jeffries Tubes or something."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Demanded Marco. "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?"

"Language Marco." Cassie chided.

"I know, but that's crazy talk." Marco stated. "We have no idea what those creatures base instincts are. What if they're instinctively walking killing machines?"

"Okay, what else could we do?" I asked.

"We could try the Howler Morph." Jake commented. "I have one."

"I haven't forgotten Jake. But what if that Howl gets loose?"

"It won't. Remember, I've already practiced with the Howler morph."

"What do you mean, that howl?" Janeway asked.

Howlers are named for the howling noise they make, a noise so deafening that it causes a cranial hemmorhage, for lack of a better term. Ax explained. In the confines of a space ship, the effects would be devastating, perhaps even cause equipment failure. Only one morpher has ever used a howler morph. And that was in open air. Jake never howled the entire time he was morphed. Ax explained.

"Captain. We're armed and ready." Tuvok said as he came over. In the meantime he had armed the other crewmen. The away team members were already armed.

"I think we should try to abandon big cats." I finished off. "For now at least. Get creative." I told them.

"I think I will use the howler." Jake agreed. "With your permission Captain." He said with a nod.

"Do it." She said as she accepted a phaser rifle from Tuvok.

"Right!" She said, getting the others attention. "I'm going to put you in pairs. One morpher, for each group of crewman. Three groups at a time will enter the turbo lifts and begin their assault. As we pass crew quarters we'll open them. I want Dr. Crusher, Dr. Bashir and the Doctor to be escorted by Tuvok to sickbay. If anybody with you gets hurt, go there. Crusher, Bashir, the Doctor knows how to replicate and prepare the necessary nanites. Follow his example and you won't have a problem doing it. Tuvok, you and your partner are to then make your way to Engineering any way you can. Once the other teams are finished with their assignments make your way to Engineering to back him up. Nelix, I want you to stay here and let me know if Species 8472 tries to retake the bridge." Janeway tossed him a phaser rifle.

To my surprise Janeway wanted me in her group with Seven. Jake, Riker, Marco and Data were in the wave with me. Captain Janeway gave us orders about where to go. Marco and Data were to try and get into Engineering. Jake and Riker were to try and clear the way to Cargo Bay 2 so that Seven could regenerate in an emergency. The Decks we were to clear were chosen at random so that "They" couldn't predict where we would hit next, Janeway explained as we prepared to Morph. I focused on my Andilite form again.

"Jake how come you're not morphing?" I asked.

"I'm going Rhino." Jake explained. "And that's too big to fit in the turbolift. Riker, when I'm morphed you're going to have to guide me. Rhinos can't see that well."

"Inquiry, where did you acquire a rhinocerous morph?" Data asked. "On Earth they are nearly extinct. There are only one hundred fifty eight White Rhinoceroses left. All other species of Rhinoceroses including Javan, black and Indian are extinct."

"The Gardens." Jake explained. "In our universe they AREN'T extinct, and the Gardens had some. So Rhino is the morph I use when I want to do some serious bashing."

"OTHER UNIVERSE?" Janeway and Seven demanded at once.

"It's a long story Captain." I said with a chuckle.

"Correction, it's a long INSANE story." Marco said with a laugh.

"Is that your favorite word?" I asked, laughing.

"Yes, it is, insane, insane, insane." Marco said with a mock growl.

"Be careful what you say Marco." I grinned. "Remember the movie? Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice."

"I have no idea what you just said." Riker rolled his eyes.

"A very old movie." Janeway explained. "Tom had us all sit down and watch it one day."

"Your pilot?" Riker asked.

"He likes twentieth century culture." Janeway explained. "Including monster movies. But tell me Feralae, is your universe anything like ours?"

"Naw, it's mostly like yours, but we had First Contact earlier, and it was WAY more violent for us. It's a looooong story, but instead of going to the stars in an experimental aircraft we had to fight a war." I explained. "And we, the Animorphs, were the soldiers. A few years later we had to leave Earth to try and rescue Ax, I was about twenty-two by then. And whatever brought us here shrank us all to the age we were when we started fighting."

"This is our stop." Jake said as the Turbolift opened. He was already starting to morph. "See you later."

We were silent the rest of the ride, but I could tell that Janeway had questions. They'd have to wait until after the battle though. This was SO not the time. The door opened again. "Don't get killed." I told Marco as he left.

Believe me, I don't intend on getting killed. Marco agreed, as he finished morphing Gorilla

I began morphing to Andilite. I noticed Seven watching with interest. "What species is that?"

Andilite I said taking a deep breath with the Andilite nose as my mouth melted away.

We had thirty seconds until the lift would open. The morph ended and I clicked the button on my wrist chrono. The lift opened, and I prepared myself for the battle. If we die. I said in a chilly tone. We die in the service of the people, defending freedom.

And I stepped out, preparing to die.


	14. It's a long days ride, and I'm not sleep...

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 12- Rachel_**

Over the next hours, while I rested, Zia withdrew control and Tobias breathed a sigh of relief. I could tell, he did NOT like the Trill or their Symbiont partners. They were too much like the yeerks to him, the yeerks who took me away from him. He obviously didn't trust Dax, despite the fact that she tried her hardest to be nice to him. The situation between the two of them was strained. Nothing that Dax's several lifetimes had known could help because she had never met the unique combination of human and Andilite morphing technology that was an Animorph. She had never met a Yeerk, or seen the horrible things they did to their prisoners/hosts/underlings/the andilites who they caught/slaughtered. And she hadn't had to watch me die aboard the Blade Ship _Visser One. _

Tobias went to sleep before any of us. Jadzia slumped back against the bulkhead in relief. "If looks could kill."

"Don't blame Tobias." I told her. "He really loves me, and he had to watch me die because of creatures that do almost the same thing that your race does. He doesn't trust anything that goes under the classification 'Vermiforms' and that's that." The proper term came to me easily from Zia.

"The yeerks were parasites, we've got true symbiosis." She shook her head. Jadzia sipped on some kind of hot drink. "I can't understand how his hatred could run so deep. There are times that I wish I could be an empath like Counselor Troi." She sighed. "But then I realize that an empath couldn't also have a symbiont, and I'm lucky that I do."

"Really, why?"

"There are only a few hundred thousand symbionts on Trill at any given time. Only about one in one thousand Trill are qualified to have one." Jadzia explained. She sighed.

"Really makes ya wonder." I sighed.

"Have some raktajino." Jadzia said, going over to the replicator. "It's Julian's favorite."

"Sure." She brought the drink over. I sipped tentatively. It was hot and spicy, with a little bit of mocha and cinnamon and nutmeg with a hint of dark chocolate. It warmed my insides much better than coffee or tea, and it gave hot chocolate (Feralae's morning nectar) a run for it's money. "Hey, this is really good!"

"Told you." Jadzia said with a smile.

I leaned back against the bunk, savoring the drink. We'd eaten dinner a few hours ago, but you should never underestimate the power of a hot drink before bed. "So, how long is it going to take us to get to your homeworld?" I asked.

"About 50 hours." Replied Jadzia. "That's why a temporary host was needed for Zia. A symbiont can only exist for 40 hours outside of the pool or a host. Any longer than that and they die."

I nodded. "So it would have taken ten hours or so too long."

"Exactly. Riker did a very brave thing that time around. Lucky for us you won't have to stay for too long, humans weren't meant to carry symbionts in the first place." Jadzia sighed. "I do worry about you, because you're younger than Riker is. So there might be even less time before the immuno-reaction strikes."

I sighed. "Part of being an Animorph is that after awhile, the insanity and the near death missions don't worry you as much." I told her. "Maybe once we get to Deep Space Nine I can convince Jake to let me teach you how to morph."

"That would be fun. I'd like to learn how you do what you do." She yawned. "Well, it's set to set off an alarm if something goes wrong, so how about the two of us get some rest."

I yawned. "Yeah, I could use some shut-eye."

I climbed into bed. Jadzia went to bed as well. That was when I heard Tobias say, so softly he could barely be heard. "I don't hate you Jadzia, I just lost too much to the yeerks for love to come easy."

I fell asleep then.

NIGHTMARE! I was on the bridge of the Blade Ship _Visser One_. Tom, a.k.a. my cousin and Jake's brother had morphed cobra and was attacking me. The bear! My dear, darling bear morph was dying. And worse, I was alone. The other Animorphs could only watch on the forward screen of the bridge.

Tobias!

Rachel! Rachel hang on!

Help me!

I can't Rachel! I can't!

Not that way! Eyes!

Tobias gulped, he understood then. The bear's eyes couldn't see the Cobra attacking me. There was no way to escape alive. I had to finish the mission. Okay, get ready… Rachel left! Left now!

I grabbed the cobra that was both cousin and controller, blood and enemy. NO! NO please! I beg you! I'll let you go! Just leave me alone! Please! Spare me!

Sorry I said, and bit his head off.

I demorphed, and lay there, weakened.

Tobias morphed human. I saw him on the screen. "I love you Rachel."

"I know you do." But there was little time left.

A second controller, morphed Polar Bear, stood over me. Polar bears are the one predator in the world that can take on a Grizzly Bear and live. You fight well human. He said.

And he killed me with one blow.

I sat up straight in my bunk, panting and sweating.

"Are you alright?" Jadzia asked sleepily from her bunk.

"Nightmare." I whispered.

"Care to talk about it?"

"No, I'm fine." I whispered, and then I yawned. "See you in the morning."

I woke up last the next morning when Tobias pounced on my bunk and cried. "WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!"

"AH!" I cried. But Tobias started tickling me.

Zia was startled and I giggled as he tickled. "Tobias… hehe…. Hahaha! Tobias get off me! Hahahehehe!"

Tobias pulled back. "Morning!" He said cheerfully.

"What's got you so cheerful?" I asked.

"Too much coffee." Jadzia chuckled. "And sugar on his pancakes."

"Do you know how long it's been since I've had pancakes?" Tobias asked. "And tomorrow I'll have waffles. And I had bacon! Real bacon!"

I rolled my eyes. "Is there anything left for me?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Pick whatever you want from the replicator." Tobias told me.

I thought for a moment before going to the replicator and ordering biscuits, sausage and gravy, with a tall glass of cold orange juice and butter and honey for the biscuits. I sat there in the cabin, scarfing down my breakfast. How long had it been since I'd eaten a meal this good? Well, okay, I'd eaten over the past two days, but after being dead you tend to enjoy food, even something simple. Zia murmured an agreement in my mind. By the time I'd mopped up the gravy with the last of the biscuits I was pleasantly full. Jadzia had finished strawberries and cream, along with some kind of pastry native to her homeworld.

"I'll have to take you out to a restaurant once this is all over." Jadzia chuckled.

"Yeah Rachel, you ate that almost as fast as Ax does." Tobias chuckled. His smile was warm and comforting. It was so good to be alive again, even something as simple as biscuits and sausage, or Tobias' warm regard, made me thankful for everything. "Did you even taste the food?"

"Ha, ha, ha." I rolled my eyes. "Let me tell you something. There's nothing like being dead for seven years to make you appreciate being alive."

"You're right about that!" The other two chorused. Then Tobias glared at Jadzia, no, that had to have been Dax that spoke, or it could have been Jadzia, who knows?

"So," Jadzia said as we got up and went to check the helm. "What are we going to do on the ride there?"

"I know." Tobias grinned. "I have an iPod. Let's see if we can upload it onto the computer!"

I blinked. "Tobias where did you get an IPOD?" I asked, laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha." Tobias said, taking umbrage. "Ax's T.O. Mendarash gave it to me. Everybody got one. It was a parting gift to thank us for offering to go find Ax."

"What IS an iPod?" Jadzia asked, blinking curiously.

Tobias grinned as he pulled it out of a pocket on his backpack. "This is an iPod." He held it out. "It stores thousands of songs on it and the best part is that it can go anywhere!"

Jadzia inspected the object. "I don't think there's a way to hook it up to the computer."

"You're right." I sighed. "Non-compatible systems."

"Maybe we could invent something." Tobias offered.

I wasn't the only one excited by that prospect. Zia seemed excited too, because the symbiont responded to this by sending up memories of everything it thought useful from it's previous hosts.

I chuckled. "Zia's excited too. Come on Jadzia, how hard can it be?"

It turned out to be very hard. It took six hours before we had a device that would hook Tobias' iPod to the computer and another hour before Jadzia could create a computer program that worked.

Tobias chuckled to himself as he hooked up the tiny music device. "Right, like Aerosmith once sang, 'Just push play!'" He pressed the play button on the iPod.

The music came on, playing 'Lean Back' by Fat Joe. Tobias grinned, doing a two-step through the cabin. "Tobias!" I chuckled.

Tobias pulled me into his arms and into a dance. I grinned impishly as I followed him with the music.

"And how does that go?" Jadzia asked. "I've never heard music like this."

"It's called Hip-Hop." Tobias explained. "Come on Rachel! Lean back with me!" He said, showing me the dance step.

I laughed, following his lead.

"But you're not hopping." Jadzia stated.

I laughed. "Not all of it his 'hopping'" I said with a grin. "Tobias, what else do you have on that thing?"

"Sailor Moon, in Japanese." He grinned.

"Sairo Moon." I said in Japanese. "I never thought you to be a Moonie Tobias."

"Oh come on. I watch it for Rei. Rei is soooo hot!" He said, digging through the files. "And I have Code Lyoko, and Magic Knight Rayearth, Inu-Yasha, Ranma ½ and tons of others."

"You have a thing for anime too?" I asked. "Most of that is Shoujo."

"Yeah, I mean, come on, have you SEEN the ladies in those anime? They're so hot!" Tobias squeaked.

"Hey watch it buster, consider your audience." I growled, giving Tobias a swat that wouldn't hurt a fly. "They can't be hotter than your girlfriend can they?"

"Nope, not hotter than girlfriend. Not hotter in the slightest."

Jadzia laughed. Tobias sighed. "This is going to be a long trip."


	15. The Sleep of Memory Produces Dreams

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 13- Feralae_**

We worked through the night and into the next day, but no matter how hard Data tried, he couldn't get past the block on Voyager's computer. He did, however, manage to get a tentative audio communications line with the Enterprise and the Defiant. It was agreed that the two Starships would tow Voyager just out of transporter range of Deep Space Nine. Janeway would send a code message once Species 8472 was defeated and it was safe to come on board. The message was a simple verse from a poem, "_Now the laborer's day is o'er, now the battle day is past, now along the farther shore, lands the Voyager at last." _It was a line from a centuries old poem about sea travel.

At about midnight Janeway decided to get some sleep. We had locked down most of the crew in five places, the Bridge, Sickbay, Cargo Bay 2, the Shuttle Bay and the Mess Hall.

The Senior Crew was curled up on the floor, those that needed to sleep at least. Data continued working on the block into the night. The Doctor was keeping watch down in sickbay. Seven had offered to keep watch on the bridge, but warned that she'd need to regenerate in the morning. James and I had offered to escort her.

Seven was leaning back against the wall nearest where I was sleeping. I couldn't sleep, and she knew it. Suddenly, she asked. "Feralae, what was your life like, back in your dimension?"

I thought for a moment. "Well, I'm actually quite famous there, although I don't really like all the attention. I live on my grandfather's old ranch. My dad is both a rancher and a blacksmith. He also works glass and weaves, and he taught me how to do all three."

"A blacksmith is a human who works metal."

"That's right. He does metal more often than glass, because blowing glass is bad for your lungs. So he only does glasswork in the winter, when the forge warms the workshop." All of this was said in a soft whisper.

"How did you become involved with the Animorphs?" Seven asked.

"It's a looooong story."

"This is a long night." Seven pointed out.

"True enough." I paused. Then I realized that unless it was an emergency, I could trust Seven to keep my secret. "It started when I got sick, really really sick. I was stuck in bed for months. But the doctor that tended me said that once I recovered, warm weather was better for the illness. You see, my family and I lived in New Haven. My parents had a workshop on the Yale Campus. It's a temperate climate there. Since my grandfather had died recently and left my father his ranch, Dad decided it was better if we moved out to California, so move we did." I sighed. "Then Dad decided to teach me how to morph. So he gave me the Escafil device, commonly referred to as the Blue Box, and told me to think about his offer."

"And you accepted."

"Not right away. I made a stupid mistake. Humans are prone to make them." I said with a low chuckle. "I brought the box to school. I didn't know that the Yeerks had come to Earth, that they had controllers, that's what we call a person who's been infested with a yeerk."

"Infested?"

"The yeerks are parasites. They leave their hosts aware, but they control them. A yeerk enters through the ear canal, crawls into the brain, and controls the creature they've chosen. I don't know if they'd be able to control you though. They can't control machines like Data, or Cyborgs like the Borg. They've tried, but it doesn't work. This particular controller was using the body of the Vice Principal, Chapman. I brought out the box to show Cassie and Rachel, not knowing who they were, and Chapman saw it."

"So he reported to his superior."

"Damn right he did." I said with a chuckle. "When the Visser gets angry, heads roll, literally. The Visser raided my house twice. He made it look like a Grizzly Bear did it. Then he realized that one of us must be carrying the box on our person. He raided the ranch in the evening, when we were there, and took my parents prisoner. I fought them, both with morphs and my father's swords. I managed to escape from them, and take the Visser's current host body, an Andilite named Alloran. Since my mother was the only other morph capable host body the Visser took her as his host. I escaped with all of our animals and enough supplies to start over up in the mountains. The Animorphs found me during my escape and we teamed up over the next few years until the end of the war."

"An interesting misadventure." Seven commented. "Where did you stay?"

"I found an abandoned cabin within walking distance of the Hork Bajir Refugee Camp. The Hork Bajir helped me rebuild the cabin."

"What is a hork bajir?"

"Remember the bladed creature that Marco morphed earlier when we tried to take Engineering and failed? That was a hork bajir. They were bioengineered to be tree herders by the Arn. The Arn are extinct now and only their creations remain as part of the United Animorphs Alliance."

"What is this Alliance of yours?"

"It's our version of the Federation. I was the one who brought us all together. My mother's last request before she died was that I try to bring together an Alliance of everybody, including the Taxxon Serpent Tribe and the Yeerk Nothlit Confederation."

"Taxxons?"

"They look kind of like centipedes." I explained. "About ten feet long, with tiny crablike claws, four eyes and a disgusting looking mouth. They're infamous for their eternal hunger, they can't control it and it overwhelms their sentience. The Taxxons that were serving on Earth morphed various creatures from the rainforest, especially snakes permanently, hence the name Serpent. The Yeerks picked different morphs, including several sentient species, with the same purpose in mind. Other species that joined were the Hork Bajir, the Andilites, the Chee, the Leerans, the Anati, the Garatron, the Gedds, the Ketrans, the Iskoort, and several Ongachik tribes. When I left the Hawjabrans were applying for membership."

"You seem a little young to be fighting. If you were a member of the collective, you would still be in a maturation chamber."

"I was twenty-two when we left Earth. Whatever brought us here shrank us back to the age we were when we started fighting. Cassie and Rachel were both a year older than I was. Marco was the oldest. Jake after him, then Rachel, Tobias and Cassie was about fourteen, one month, and two weeks when I met her."

"I have not met either Rachel or Tobias." It was both a statement and a question.

"They had to go on a mission with Lieutenant Dax. They'll be back soon. Probably by the time we finally dock at the station."

"You believe it will take that long to repel Species 8472?"

"It will take awhile. It would take ages for JUST us Animorphs to repel a group of enemies that size. And they're like Hork Bajir, too powerful to take on without morphing."

"You did just fine earlier this evening."

"I'm an exception. I'm part Andilite, so it's easy enough for me to evade their attacks. If I had a sword that leader would have been dead in thirty seconds. Besides, I wanted to show them how powerful we are as a group. Sort of a defensive intimidation tactic."

I yawned. "I believe you should try to sleep. If something happens, I will wake you up to help. But for now you must sleep." Seven told me.

Sleep came easily to me that night. But dreams didn't. Recently, even if I didn't have a dream vision from our little friends in the Wormhole I still dreamed memories. And not all of them were nice.

I was in the hospital. The room smelled strongly of disinfectant, and it was irritatingly white. I wanted black. I wanted darkness to envelop me, so that I could rest for all time. It's called Bipolar Disorder with Catatonic Traits, and it's nasty. I felt so weak, so helpless. And when I wasn't listening to the insistent BEEP, BEEP, BEEP of the monitors I was seeing things, shadows and bright lights that flickered in red and blue. I heard the singing of angels and the chanting of demons. Voices and music and sounds of all kinds reached my ears.

Gods no. I didn't want to relive this, this timelessness. It was worse than death for me. When you're dead at least you don't hallucinate. When you're dead at least you don't fight for your sanity.

I felt the faint touch of a hand on mine. A familiar face peeked out through the gloom. Calm, an implant over her eyebrow, a combadge, SEVEN! What was she doing in my memory? Had I accidentally pulled her in?

Then I realized what had happened. If there was somebody sleeping near me sometimes I accidentally pulled them into my dreams. I was never able to explain how I did that. So if Seven had finally learned how to sleep I had probably pulled her into my dreams. But what if she hadn't?

The dream me thrashed on the hospital bed in fever. The demons and angels were warring above me, and I could do nothing to stop them. In the middle of my delusion I thought seriously that I would be claimed by whoever won. The Angels wanted me to bring light to the world, and the Demons would have me rot in darkness.

Seven looked on at my suffering for a moment, and then asked the memory of my dad, who was sitting by my bed. "What has damaged her?"

"My daughter has bipolar disorder." He said, sadness and tears showing in his Andilite Green eyes. "She's having a depressive episode and can't even get out of bed. The doctor thinks that she's hallucinating, because she can't hear us and her eyes follow things that aren't even there!"

Seven turned back to the bed, pity in her eyes. Then slowly, as though moved by a transporter, she faded out.

I jerked awake from where I had curled up near the far wall of the bridge. I yawned. Seven was stretching. The lights were coming on. It was morning. "Good morning." Captain Janeway said, sipping a mug of coffee. "I took the time to put together breakfast from the replicator in the conference room. By all means everybody come in and eat and we'll come up with a new tactic."

I followed her into the conference room and took a seat. I noticed with amusement that we Animorphs had taken a seat on her right side, near the wall, and her crew had taken up a seat on her left side, near the window. The visiting crewmen from the Defiant and the Enterprise filled in the gaps on both sides. Captain Janeway had set out everything from pancakes to assorted pastries that were definitely alien. "It's not as good as anything Nelix makes, but it will have to do."

I took a plate. I was sitting across from Chakotay, with Seven next to him and Paris and B'Elanna next to them. Tuvok was beyond her. He kept his mind on his food for the moment. Ensign Kim sat after him and Nelix sat at the end.

On our side I sat next to the Captain. Cassie was next to me, then Jake and James. After that was Marco, Craig and Erika. Beyond, at the edge, Ax carefully poured the fruit juice into an empty bowl and said, Excuse my bad manners. He and Alloran filled a couple more bowls with fruit and some of the pasties. Then the two of them gently mashed the meal with their hooves, taking in the lifegiving nutrients from the fruit.

"That's fine." Captain Janeway barely batted an eye.

But Paris said, "So THAT'S how you eat without a mouth!"

Yes, when I first ate with the human president he dropped his spoon. Ax commented.

If I were to morph human and eat the way you did I would go berserk. Andilites tend to go a tad crazy when we try to eat in human morph. Alloran said with a chuckle.

I smiled. "Well then, the morning ritual?" I asked.

Indeed, there is no need to scrimp tradition, even on a human ship. Alloran agreed.

Well then. Ax said with an eyesmile. There is little room to do the whole thing here however. 

"From the water that gave birth to us, from the grass that feeds us…"

For the freedom that unites us, we rise to the stars. Freedom is my only guide, service to the people, my only duty… Ax added.

Obedience to my prince my only glory. I WarPrince Alloran Semitur Corass

Aximili Esgarouth Isthil

"Feralae Miyamoto Orlan Sorath" I added.

"Offer my life." I stiffened, placing a hand gently to my throat, as the two full blooded andilites placed their tail blades to their throats. If I had had my Katana, I would have brought the blade to my throat. After the war, those who had lost their tail blades in battle, and could not morph to regrow them, (such as Mertil) had adopted swords as a sort of, replacement blade. The rituals were adapted for them.

We relaxed and continued with the meal. The Voyager crew stared at us. "It's kind of the Andilite version of grace." I explained.

"Normally we don't do grace." Paris chuckled.

"I do not understand the concept." Seven stated, before delicately taking a bite of pastry.

"In the twentieth century it was common for humans to offer a prayer to whatever God they worshipped." Explained Tom Paris.

"Klingons do that too." B'Elanna said with a nod. "We offer a portion of our meal to the spirit of Kahless."

Worf nodded. "I have taught my son Alexander the concept, he does not agree with it, he finds it annoying."

Data blinked in surprise. "I never saw one of these, 'graces.'"

"It's nothing special." Riker sighed. "Grace was important to my grandfather too."

I tapped off the rituals on my fingers. "There's a morning ritual, an evening ritual, a death ritual, a battle ritual, a ritual for childbirth, and I'm probably forgetting a couple."

We are a very ritualistic people. Ax stated. It's nothing special to us.

"Feralae, you seemed kind of tense while you were sleeping." Paris said, changing the subject. "Were you having a nightmare or something?"

"Memory." I sighed. "Just a very nasty memory."

"The last battle?" Marco asked. "Man, that bites. We didn't have it anywhere near as tough as Feralae did, except maybe Jake."

"No, it was another sort of battle." I said with a forced smile. "I don't talk about it often."

"I'm all ears." Dr. Bashir said from somewhere further down the table.

"Correction doctor, you have only two…"

"It's an expression Data." Dr. Bashir said with a laugh.

"Oh. Apologies."

"Well." I said softly. "Ever wonder how I ended up moving to California in the middle of the school year?" I asked.

Cassie shook her head. "You said it was because your mother was transferred."

"That was an excuse. Shortly before my thirteenth birthday I ended up getting sick, like, very sick, like can't get out of bed sick. I ended up in the hospital for months. The doctor in charge suggested that I go to someplace where the climate was warmer. He thought that might help, and it did, so we stayed in California." My face flushed in embarrassment.

Andilites tended to be a healthy lot. To them illness or permanent disorders were something to be hidden, a shameful thing. "My father's adopted father, my grandfather, had died recently and left us his ranch. Since there was a workshop there, as well as the resources nearby for my parents to keep working, we moved there. While my dad worked in the shop my mom worked at the nearby zoo."

"Must have been hard." Cassie squeezed my hand gently.

"Yeah, but I worked through it. But man, I wouldn't want to go through that again. I've worked a lot with my Andilite cousins, and among Andilites, Illness is rare, so are permanent disorders and handicaps. They're called Vecols, literally the lame." I looked down into the bowl of cereal I was working on. "But hey, it put me in the path of Destiny, and she's such a gentlewoman, who'd work against her?"

"Is there any chance that the disease could…" Bashir began. Crusher waved her hand, indicating that he stop.

"Patient confidentiality remember?" She asked, tapping her spoon on the edge of his bowl. "We'll talk about this later."

"There's no time!" I pointed out. "We have to find some way of stopping Species 8472. The Enterprise and the Defiant are proceeding at impulse to give us time to repel their attack, but we need to stop them, fast."

"I'm open to ideas." Janeway commented.

"There is one way…" Jake commented.

"And that is?" I asked.

"Howler morph, cut loose, and bam, they're dead. Unless they're armored against it." He added.

"What's a Howler?" Asked Kim.

"I could ask the same." Janeway commented.

"They're a species bioengineered by an entity known as the Crayak. Picture a creature ten times more powerful than Q, with a pyramidal body that's just as much machine as biological. He has a single, malevolent eye on the top of the Pyramid, glowing red. He's the essence of malevolence and lives to destroy every sentient species in the Galaxy." I explained. "Howlers are the closest creature to humanoid that we've encountered during the war. They're about five foot six, with eyes as blue as a robin's egg. Those eyes can see through a person's body, see the heat from their beating heart, the better to cut it out with. They have a sort of a biological lazy-Susan at their waist. If you were to punch one, it would swing around and hit you right back, and use the momentum of your punch against you. And they have claws coming out of their knuckles, eight inch long, spiky claws. Their skin is as hard as rock, and looks like hardening lava. They usually carry tons of weapons. And they're fast. But the worst part about them is their howl. It's powerful enough to cause brain damage. If we were in the open air, and a howler were to attack us with that howl, anybody who's a telepath would go down first, then Seven would probably be next because of her implants, then Ax and Alloran would pass out from it."

Everybody was staring. "It's that powerful." I insisted. "The howlers were bioengineered to do one thing, kill. And they do it with a frightening efficiency."

Marco spoke up. "One Howler took out eight of us in a little less than two minutes. That's how powerful they are."

"If you believe it is the best course of action." I told my fellow Animorphs, "Then I will allow it, but only if Captain Janeway agrees. But remember this, once before we abandoned morality for the sake of victory, and we took heavy losses."

Janeway looked up one end of the table and down the other. "We were so close. We're this close to getting back to civilization. From here it's only a few weeks back to Earth. How can we give up now? How can we give up this ship and all that we've done this close? What would we need to do to put this plan into action?"

The plan was decided upon. Jake would morph dragonfly. A combined Animorph Federation Security force would create a diversion. Then Jake would find a hiding place and we'd run. While we got to the edge of the Howler's range Jake would let loose that howl.

"And when we're done we can all chill out on the holodeck." Paris said with a grin. "I've got a ton of programs to show you…"

"You are NOT getting her to play Captain Proton!" B'Elanna said, giving her mate a swat that wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Actually I was thinking Sailor Moon, with me as Tuxedo Mask. Of course B'Elanna, you can be Serena anytime." Paris said, batting his eyelashes at her.

"Dream on hero-boy." The Engineer said, rolling her eyes.

"Do you realize how much yuri and yaoi there is in Sailor Moon?" I asked.

"Yaoi and yuri? No way!" Paris's eyes seemed to bug from his head. "Who's the gay one?"

"Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and by the way, Zoicite is a GUY. They changed him into a girl so that little kids wouldn't ask questions when they saw him."

"You're kidding right? The story says that Uranus and Neptune were cousins!"

"I kid ye' not. And of course, I lived the Sailor Anime Craze. So I know stuffage about it that you wouldn't." I said with a smirk. "And they weren't cousins, they were lovers, haven't you ever seen the uncut version? They were all holding hands and stuff."

"Can we stick to topic?" Asked Cassie with a laugh.

"Please tell me that Tuxedo Mask isn't gay?" Tom asked.

"No, he's with Sailor Moon." I said with a laugh. "Naoko Takeuchi made that VERY clear."

Breakfast finished with banter. But for me the banter covered my anxiety. I remembered what the Ellemist had said about telepaths being especially vulnerable to a Howler's howl. I remembered Cassie's comment about my being a telepath and not realizing it for years. I knew what would happen to me, but I could not make the decision to give myself up like that on my own, somebody had to make it for me. That was why I had left the decision up to Captain Janeway. But I knew that if I were human in this fight I would die, plain and simple. I kept the thought shielded from Cassie. No need to worry her until it happened. And with that, I began to prepare my mind for battle.


	16. Killing Time

**In the Arms of the Goddess**

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 14- Feralae_**

We had six hours to prepare. So James and I kept my promise to Seven and escorted her down to Cargo Bay 2 so that she could regenerate and collect herself for the coming battle. Chakotay offered to come along. I would almost have preferred that he not.

"This battle." I sighed as we got into the turbo lift. "I fear it will go badly."

James was focusing on his lion morph, eyes fluttering closed in concentration.

"What makes you say that?" Chakotay asked. The Voyager Senior Crew knew our story now, or most of it. There were parts that we'd left out.

"We came up with a similar plan to end the Yeerk/Animorph war, and we ended up with heavy casualties, mostly among the reserve Animorphs under James' command. Only James' lieutenants Craig and Erika survived their group. And then we lost Rachel." I shuddered. "The Yeerks had stolen morph capability from us, and they were using it to attack us. Rachel was up against some of the most powerful enemy morphs that could fit on the bridge of a ship. She had to fight two lionesses, a leopard, a cobra, a cape buffalo and a polar bear. She took out the lionesses and the leopard, but the cape buffalo kept her pinned until the cobra could poison her. Rachel took out the cobra and demorphed. Then the yeerk morphed polar bear broke her neck." I explained, shuddering. "And the plan was almost exactly the same as this one. Like I warned, when you discard morality for the sake of victory, you pay the karmic consequences."

This time it will be different. James commented. This time we have Starfleet backing us up. And these people know our enemy better than we do!

"That's true." I commented. "But it's enough to make me nervous."

"Your insistence on morality is puzzling." Seven commented. "We are, in essence, fighting back against something that they have done to us. It is within our right to use whatever means necessary to defeat them."

"Calling self defense is an excuse that we used to use." I shook my head. "Seven, it only justifies the mistake. It doesn't make it right. Might doesn't always equal right. For example, Marco was once faced with the choice of killing his Yeerk infested mother or sacrificing the mission. He was so focused on proving to Jake that he could keep control, that he wasn't weakened by his mother's presence, that he nearly cut our numbers by about half. Every time we've abandoned morality, forgotten what we fight for, to prove a hidden agenda we've ended up getting bashed, big time. And if we don't learn from our mistakes, history repeats itself."

"If you have doubts, shouldn't you report them to the captain?" Chakotay asked.

"No, because I know what has to be done. I'm willing to sacrifice myself to make sure that the mission is finished and you all get home safely." I shook my head. "It's complicated."

"I see, you believe that the howl will damage you." Seven commented.

I didn't know what to say to that, because she was right. I had been hit with it before, before we knew what was coming, and I went down with a BOOM! "I'm the leader, it's my place to question." I said stubbornly. "But I couldn't make this choice, so I'm leaving it up to the captain."

This conversation was getting a little uncomfortable. "So what's with Paris and his obsession with Captain Proton? And who IS Captain Proton anyway?"

Chakotay laughed. "Captain Proton is a superhero holonovel that he wrote. Once Tom even managed to get the Captain to play in it."

I laughed. "I wonder if he knows who Astroboy is." I wondered. "Or Gigantor, or Speed Racer."

"He probably would." Chakotay chuckled. "We're almost there."

"I'd better morph." I focused on the Hork Bajir morph that I'd gotten and controlled the changes, making my body ripple with muscle, the blades sweep out in a logical order, and the other changes happen in my usual order, head, arm, arm, body, leg, leg, tail. It was a bit crowded in the turbo lift, but it worked. I pressed the button on my morph chrono and handed it to Chakotay. Would you please hang on to this? You have pockets, I don't.

The first officer was startled at suddenly having to look up at a child of thirteen turned into a deadly monster. But he took the chrono and put it in his pocket. "What's that for?"

To keep track of time. I stated.

The door to the Turbo lift opened. With it's back to us, stood a species 8472. He had been stupid not to faze out, and it would be his/its undoing. I crept up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. As the creature turned around I punched him in the jaw and brought a spiked kick up into his gut. My talons ripped a hole in his middle.

That was about the time that he began to fight back. I slashed out with my wrist and elbow blades, severing an arm, part of his leg, and finally his head. The creature fell to the floor, dead.

Come on! Before others come! I waved them forward. We ran. I counted the doors to the different storerooms as we went. Which one was the Cargo Bay?

"This one!" Chakotay called as we stopped. He was panting. I'd forgotten that it's hard for a human to keep up with a hork-bajir. But Seven wasn't winded at all. She calmly pressed out a code on the door and it opened.

The Security officer in charge of the door saw who we were and let us in. This particular bay was empty. Some of the barrels had been left, but other than that it was mostly filled with people finishing their breakfast. A girl about six or seven came running over chanting. "Seven, seven sevenseven!" She glomped Seven of Nine.

Seven was almost bowled over. "Naomi Wildman, please be careful."

I demorphed, along with James. "Looks like you nearly bowled her over." I said with a chuckle.

The little girl looked over at us. "Hi! I'm Naomi! What's your name?" She slid down Seven's back but clung to one of her legs for security.

"I'm Feralae, and this is James. We offered to help guard Seven while she's regenerating."

"I saw you turn into that monster. You don't hurt people like that do you?"

"No, but we will hurt Species 8472." I said with a chuckle.

"They deserve it!" She said, raising her chin belligerently. "Voyager is ours! They can't just waltz in and take it away!"

"Keep that attitude. It does you credit." I said with a chuckle.

Seven extricated herself from Naomi's strangle hold and entered her alcove. She murmured. "Thank you." And closed her eyes as she hooked up.

I sighed. Two of the crewmen, one a Vulcan, and the other a Bajoran wearing the bar of a provisional officer were playing checkers over near one pallet. I walked over and crouched near them. "He's gonna get you." I told the Bajoran.

"You think I don't know th…"

The Vulcan calmly jumped the Bajoran's king. "Vorik that's not fair! You should have given me a chance to figure it out!"

I rolled my eyes. "I play winner."

To my surprise the Bajoran won, but only by a hair, kinging his last piece and turning the vulcan's offensive rush back on itself in a double jump. The Vulcan Vorik moved back to watch and I took his place. "My name is Feralae Miyamoto."

"Kolan Coro. Pleased to meet you." He said as we set up. "You're one of those Animorphs that came to help us right?"

"That's right."

"I saw you morph at the door. That was weird."

"Morphing is normally weirder. There's usually no logic to it. I can control the way that I morph. It's a talent that I have." Then, in the Japanese tradition of boardgames I said. "Onegaishimasu."

"Whatever."

The set up was finished and I instantly moved for the center. My dad had said that the center was the better position to make, because it was harder to surround and thus a better position to attack from. Chakotay sauntered over to watch. Within three moves I was in total control of the center.

Then I saw it. Kolan had lured me out of the center into an attack. Before I knew it I had lost three pieces to a triple jump. But he had also left one of his pieces open to attack by my back pieces. I didn't manage to score as spectacularly as he did. But I countered four attacks and managed to get a King.

By that point at both of us were down by at least half of our pieces. It wasn't exactly easy to get two kings by him, but I managed.

That was when Kolan startled me by asking. "We're really in the Bajoran system?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There's a festival coming up." He answered. "Once all of this is over, I intend to visit. My younger Sister is being trained at one of the Temples." He explained. "I'd like her blessings before I help Voyager get to Earth."

I smiled. "I have two Brothers back home in California. Loscar is older than I am and Simone is probably about five or six now. I haven't exactly been home either."

Chakotay barely sputtered a warning just as Kolan jumped all three of my kings. "GOT YOU!" He giggled.

"Kolan that was a DIRTY trick!" Protested Naomi, who had sidled over to watch. Vorik had left this part of the cargo bay and had sat on a crate to read.

"It worked didn't it?" The officer asked.

"That wasn't fair though! She wasn't paying attention?"

"It's okay Naomi, because now that he's jumped me I can do… THIS!" I grinned, double jumping his last King and one of his pieces.

"Ouch. I should have been paying attention." Kolan chuckled. "But that allows me to do THAT!" He jumpeda piece I was trying toKing.

"Goddess damnit." I growled.

"Watch the language in front of the kid." Chakotay warned calmly. "Focus on the game."

There were three more pieces left on my side. He had two, but one of them was easily captured. I moved one of my kings to herd the piece forward one. He took the bait and I got the second piece.

I was so close to winning, but Kolan was smart enough to evade all my subsequent attacks. I was, however, smart enough to prevent the defense based attack that had beaten Vorik. The problem was to do that I had to avoid the edges of the board, and that in avoiding the edges of the board I left myself open, and it was this lapse in strategy that Kolan exploited.

"Good game." I grinned, extending a hand.

Kolan took it. "Indeed. Good match."

"I'll play next." Chakotay said with a smile. "We're going to be waiting awhile for Seven."

"I wanna play Commander!" Naomi protested.

"You can play winner Naomi." Kolan said, tousling the girl's hair playfully. "Ready commander?"

I sauntered over to Seven's alcove and sat nearby. I closed my eyes and focused on meditating. I felt the fighter's chi flow through my veins like a stream through the earth.

FLASH!

Instantly I was on the Ranch, in my dad's smithy. The familiar pale glow around me lit the entire place. The Prophet had taken the form of my father. "Feralae, whatever you do, survive. You are needed. Unite Voyager, Defiant, and Enterprise, the three mightiest ships in the Galaxy, and defend our home."

FLASH!

I was back in the cargo bay, meditating next to Seven's alcove. "I'll do my best." I whispered.


	17. Welcome Home

**In the Arms of the Goddess **

By Nyassa Kaiba

**_Chapter 15- Feralae _**

It was time. Six hours and a very tense lunch later several security officers, the Senior crew, and all of us gathered outside the Turbolift near engineering. Marco had knocked out the guard and all of us, one by one, acquired the Species 8472. We'd never know when we'd need it, and besides, who knew if we'd ever get the chance to acquire one again.

"Alright. Everybody ready?" Janeway asked.

"Everybody morph, quick before they come." I said. I closed my eyes, focusing on a single image. Sentient species wouldn't work for this. I needed something primitive. I focused on the image of a Kodiak bear. The largest bear on the planet, this particular morph stood at seven feet tall. It had claws like pickaxes and an enormous jaw filled with teeth. I almost never used this. I had had no need to between the Hork Bajir, Andilite and lion morphs. But I had two enemies now, Species 8472, and Jake's howl.

I finished the morph, and barely felt Jake the dragonfly land on my back in my fur.

I crouched down on all fours to stand beside Janeway. She was armed with a phaser rifle. We left the guard trussed up tighter than a pig at a luau and barreled down the corridor at top speed. We reached Engineering in thirty seconds. We Animorphs had to wait for the Voyager crew and the others to catch up. According to the plan, since he was immune to sound attacks, Data would remain behind to help Jake. Dr. Crusher and Dr. Bashir would wait back at Sickbay in case anybody was injured.

There were dozens of them. There had to be at least thirty of the monsters. They crowded around. "Get them!" Shouted the leader.

I swung my piledriver arms and nailed one of them in the face. I picked up a second and threw it across the room. Phaser fire blocked the doorway, keeping them from escaping out the front door. They could, of course, go out the Jeffries tubes. But Janeway had several crewmen putting lockdown hatches in place as we spoke. They were trapped.

Jake called to us. I've got it. I'm hidden under a panel near the warp core! Demorphing now.

Janeway didn't give a sign that she'd heard. But she shouted. "That's it people! They've had it! Retreat!"

I bolted and demorphed. We had three minutes, maybe four. I stumbled. Cassie hauled me up and we ran. Seven was to my right. B'Elanna, with her Batleth in hand, was running as fast as her legs could carry her up ahead.

Suddenly, too quickly, I heard. "KERAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!" The pain was incredible. I screamed, and I wasn't afraid to show it. "KERAAAAAOOOWWW!" I fell, the pain in my head! It was too much. I fell and was falling deeper and deeper into darkness. I felt Cassie's pain in my head as the howl reverberated up and down our precious link. "KERAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

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"I don't get it." Captain Janeway said with a sigh. She and the other Animorphs had gathered around Feralae and Cassie. "What was it about these two that made them vulnerable to the Howlers?"

The Doctor shooed them out of the way. "You'll have to figure that out somewhere else ladies and gentlemen. I have a patient to care for." He waved the scanner bar along Feralae's body. "Hm… that's interesting."

"What is?" Janeway asked, still keeping back.

"The sensor is detecting large amounts of Lithium Carbonate in Feralae's bloodstream." The Doctor replied. "And that shouldn't be there."

"I noticed that too." Dr. Crusher said as she tended to Cassie. "But I couldn't figure out where it had come from."

"Check your medical history texts. In the twentieth century Lithium Carbonate was used to treat Bipolar disorder. For awhile it was the strongest treatment you could get. Like using a cannon to shoot down a songbird. It's not used now, because we can correct genetic defects like that. It would take me awhile, because not all of her DNA is human, but I could correct it."

"Wait for her to wake up." Janeway told him. "I want to ask her about this."

"Just don't scare her Captain." The Doctor warned.

"Andilites don't get sick often." Marco commented. "When they do, they tend to keep it very private. And heaven forbid you if you get a genetic defect. They call such people a vecol. Vecols are expected to hide away for the rest of their lives. Her 'Ancestral' people needed her, not to mention that we did. That's probably why she hasn't told any of us."

"Remember how she mentioned earlier that she was very sick shortly before coming to California?" Asked Erika. "Maybe this is what she had?"

"It very well may be." Dr. Bashir commented from where he was scanning Seven. "Doctor I'll take care of Feralae, but since I have no experience with Borg implants I would like to switch patients with you."

"Sounds sensible to me." The Doctor said, as he took over healing Seven. "Feralae warned us Captain."

"She certainly did." Captain Janeway rubbed her forehead. "This is going to be a long clean-up job."

"And her predictions were almost totally correct." Dr. Crusher said from the viewscreen. "Look at who went down first. Tuvok was the first to fall, then Feralae and Cassie, Seven after them, and Ax and Alloran after that."

"Why Feralae though?" Asked Dr. Bashir. "Could it have something to do with the fact that she's part Andilite?"

"It might be." Jake commented. "Feralae's always had strange powers."

Bashir looked up from his work, startled. "Like what for example."

"Sometimes she'll accidentally pull people into her dreams, for example. And any alternate timeline with her or Cassie in it usually comes falling apart at the seams." Explained Marco. "The Ellemist called it something, but I can't remember what. And I've noticed Jake, even if you haven't, that sometimes Feralae and Cassie will just stare at each other, eye to eye. It's really creepy to watch."

"I haven't noticed. I wonder what she did."

"Whatever it is, it made her unusually weak to a Howler's howl." Dr. Bashir said as he gently worked a tool over Feralae's bruised head. He finished with that and poked another tool into her ear. "Ouch, it ruptured her eardrums. This might take awhile."

"Keep on it Dr. Bashir. Doctor, let me know of any change in their conditions." This was said to Voyager's doctor, not Bashir.

Captain Janeway looked out at the Sickbay. Six injured out of the attack. Besides Feralae, Cassie and Seven, Tuvok, Ax and Alloran had suffered head injuries of one kind or another. Janeway was disgusted at her stupidity. Feralae had warned her. When the Security teams lead by Odo had made it back to Engineering they had found Jake, fully human with tears in his eyes. Around him the dead members of Species 8472 surrounded him. He had taken down every last one of them, just as he had warned. And at a terrible price.

"Data to Captain Janeway." Data said over the combadge.

Janeway tapped her com. "Go ahead Data."

"Thanks to a program Alloran and Ax developed as well as the equipment and input of Lieutenant Torres I have broken through the locks that Species 8472 made on Voyager's computer system. Communications should be working normally now."

"Good work. I'll be right up on the bridge. Janeway out."

She left. Janeway was troubled by Feralae's injuries. She knew she shouldn't be, but it seemed like there was something she was missing.

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Seven, meanwhile, found herself in a realm of total blackness. She heard whimpering nearby, and pinpointing the direction she started off into the gloom.

Seven didn't have long to wait. Feralae was on her knees in the darkness. Cassie had her head in Feralae's lap and was doubled into a fetal position, whimpering in pain. "Cassie, shh… I've got you. It's going to be okay."

"Is she damaged?"

"I can't tell. All I know is she's in pain." Feralae didn't look up from where she was kneeling. "Gods, this is my fault! Mine!"

"How is this your fault?" Seven asked.

"I shouldn't have agreed to let Jake morph Howler. I'm the leader now. Not him." She was crying. It was a human reaction that Seven didn't totally understand.

"Where are we?" Seven asked, looking around. Not that there was anything to see. But the former Borg couldn't contain her curiosity.

"I'm not really sure. I think my mind created it when we were knocked out." She said, pulling Cassie into her arms. "Cassie, shhhh… it's going to be okay."

"Hurts… my head Feralae it hurts!" Cassie whimpered.

The blackness began to reform around them. They were in the Garden of the Shrine run by Feralae's grandmother. "Feralae…" Feralae's mother appeared before them.

"MOM!"

Feralae's mother wore a Miko's outfit. A samurai sword was belted at her side and she carried a bow and arrows. "Listen to me. I don't have much time." She said as she knelt by Feralae's side.

"But mom, how come you're appearing to me when you're dead?" Feralae demanded.

"The Prophets made it possible. I wanted to come and warn you myself, and they have great respect for the dead." The woman replied.

"Fine, shoot." Feralae told her.

"Remember the story that grandmother told you when she visited her shrine?"

"Which one?"

"I'll describe it then. According to the legend there was a gate between the realm of Demons, known as Yomi and the realm of the Kami. According to legend three demons will try to pass through the gate. These demons are the Youko of prejudice, the Tengu of insincerity, and the Oni of addiction. The Kami will choose their champions to protect their home, a Warrior, an Explorer, and an Artist. These three will have their own virtues to protect them, Courage, Loyalty, and Wisdom. But they will need somebody to bring them together, for they live in entirely different worlds. This uniting factor is referred to in the legend as the Shoujo no Hikari, the girl of light." Feralae's mother replied.

Her form began to fade. "I have to go Feralae. My time is UP! I love you!"

"I love you too mother! Good luck!"

"Thank you! Bring us together Feralae! In heart! In mind! In soul! Good BYE!" And with that she disappeared.

There was a long silence. "Who was that woman?" Seven asked.

"She was my mother." Feralae said softly, sadly. Cassie had stopped whimpering. Feralae pulled her friend into her arms. "Shhh… it's okay."

"I do not understand how I came to be here." Seven pointed out, crouching down. She was almost afraid to sit. And it seemed that she would be here for awhile.

"Neither do I." Feralae replied. "Sometimes, when somebody that I trust is sleeping or unconscious, I'll accidentally pull them into my dreams, but this is stronger than that ability has ever been."

"Physical and mental abilities do tend to become stronger over time." Seven agreed. "I would suggest that you focus on trying to wake up."

Feralae nodded. "I'm not sure if we can. Not yet at least. If we were to wake up we'd probably end up in pain on some medical bed somewhere." Feralae said.

The scene was blanking out around her, and Seven fell into a deeper sleep, one without shared dreams. The concept scared her, and Seven was grateful for the rest.

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The remaining Animorphs as well as the remaining Voyager Bridge crew stood ready for their Captain to make the historic transmission. "Prepare the message Ensign Kim."

"We're ready Captain."

"Hail the Defiant and the Enterprise as planned." Kathryn ordered.

"Hailing. We have a reply."

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. _Now the laborer's day is o'er, now the battle day is past, now along the farther shore, lands the Voyager at last._"

"They're sending us a reply."

"On screen."

The screen was split between Picard's bridge and Sisko's. "Welcome back to the Alpha Quadrant Captain." Picard said, with a smile.

"Thank you Captain Picard, we're glad to be back."

"Please proceed with us to the Station." Sisko said calmly. "We'll see about whatever repairs you need as well as enough supplies to get you back to Earth and shore leave for your… ahem… cabin fevered crew."

"Thank you. We are proceeding to Deep Space Nine as planned. Captain Picard, thank you for sending Data, Riker, Dr. Crusher and Worf to help us. They certainly earned their places the past few days. Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Odo and Dr. Bashir have been incredibly helpful. The two Doctors have patients down in sickbay that they have to tend to, but the others are all ready to go back to their respective ships."

"Any casualties?"

"No deaths in this battle, but a lot of injuries. Four of the nine Animorphs are currently unconscious in sickbay along with two of my senior crewmen. This is why we'll need Doctor Bashir and Doctor Crusher to stay a little longer."

Picard nodded. "Shall we proceed at impulse then, until they wake up?"

"I would like that indeed. I think Tuvok and Seven should be present when we dock with the first Federation outpost we've been to in seven years."

"Send Feralae my best wishes." Captain Picard said calmly. "I hope she gets better soon."

"She's been extremely helpful to us in the battle." Kathryn replied. "If it weren't for the Animorphs, we'd still be fighting. We have a member of Species 8472 imprisoned in the brig. Marco trussed him up like a pig at a luau, but I think some higher authority would like to question him/her/it, as soon as possible."

"I received a transmission from Starfleet Command saying that Admirals Paris, Necheyev and Mc Coy are on their way here now. They'll be here in about two days. Is that enough time to get everything ready for their arrival?" Captain Sisko asked.

"Perfect." Captain Janeway replied. "We'll be more than ready for their arrival by then. However, I would like to find some way to thank Feralae for all she's done, and her Animorph's uniform got torn up in the fight. I think if we could have a new morph outfit made for her, one that fits her station that that would more than make up for the trouble she's gone to. Do either of you know a good Tailor?"

Sisko grinned. "If you don't mind the presence of a Cardassian, I know exactly who could do it. His name is Garak, and he's an excellent Tailor. He does the work for me and my crew when we need a costume of some sort."

Janeway smiled. "I don't think that will be a problem at all. Now, the next order of business, the transwarp engines have done horrible damage to Voyager's outer hull and ruined most of the dilithium in our stores…" And that was that for the Animorphs for now.


End file.
